<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Warhammer Story NaNoWriMo 2020 by GhostlyClockwork</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345367">Warhammer Story NaNoWriMo 2020</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostlyClockwork/pseuds/GhostlyClockwork'>GhostlyClockwork</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warhammer 40.000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Lesbians in Space, NaNoWriMo 2020, Original Character(s), Romance, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:02:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>49,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345367</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostlyClockwork/pseuds/GhostlyClockwork</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>My NaNoWriMo story! A warhammer noir novel.</p><p>In the Hive city of Tarala, a man is dead. He has been killed in an impossible way, for no gain. The Order of the Blue Rose is trying to find out what happened and how, tuning to an Inquisitor who has experience in finding things out. The problem is that sometimes things that you're looking for are best not found.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OC/OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Day One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day One of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Most things start with a death. That’s what a lot of the Inquisitors who have a bit too much love of dramatics say when looking into thing. Killing someone is often used to hide something, be it heresy, theft or other crimes against the Emperor. Of course, stealing from the Emperor was in itself a sin, but that was often just pedantic hair splitting. This wasn’t always true, and possibly not even worthy of the ‘Mostly’ signifier. Most things start with patterns. Or at least, changes in patterns.</p>
<p>Rana Bellhouse was in her office, as was her pattern. Her boots were up on her desk as she leaned back, the light from the false sky filtering through her window. Her office overlooked a large plaza, and her dark eyes would glance out of at it every so often, looking at the people walking below. Her hair was dark as well, tied back to keep it out of the way. She was slightly built and on the shorter side, her darkly tanned skin giving her a bit of the exotic on this place. Tarala hiveborns were pale as a rule, the false sunlight lumens never enough to make them tanned.</p>
<p>The hive was as dense a congregation of humanity that you were likely to find in the galaxy, a man-made mountain stretching ten kloms up into the sky, the upper spiers looking down over the rolling clouds, made dark and foul by centuries of pollution. A man-made wasteland, that the hive city poked through, a island in a foul sea. But the upper levels were never reliable sources of heresy. Oh sure, Rana had to admit, when they did slip into the seductive and destructive grip of debauchery and chaos, the rich rulers of the world did so with abandon. But it was rarer than down in the lower levels of the hive, the sprawling mountain of rockcrete and metal an anthill of industry. The factories of Tarala produced weapons, commercial goods, food, whatever they could wring out of the haulers full of raw materials scooped from the systems asteroid belt. It was then shipped out on those same haulers, the people working endless toil for the good of the Imperium and the God-Emperor. These people, and the people below them were the sources of heresy that Rana was more concerned with. A rich autocrat who decided to play with horrors of the galaxy out of a sense of boredom or a thrill, they were heretics, all of them, and the Emperor’s Judgement will find them and they will pay the price for turning from His light. They were also singular. Small groups, maybe one person, and that was it. Nobles like those did not share. Not money, power or anything they had, so they did not spread their taint.</p>
<p>The lower levels however, they were different. They worked in the dark, and the darkness was where it spread. Heresy was a sticky taint, and it forever colored the people who touched it. They could spread networks of blasphemy that grew like mushrooms in the dark and threaten the foundations of all of Tarala. But it was possible to spot them. Before they even knew they were falling under its sway by looking at the changes in the patterns. People no longer going to a usual drinking establishment, moving from their normal seats in the Imperial Chapel, People did everything for a reason, a reason they may not even know, but it was there. Pure randomness was the purview of mathematics, not men. Thus, when a knock came to the door of Rana Bellhouse, Inquisitor, this was something worth noting.</p>
<p>Not just the knock, even though there are very few who would willingly knock on a inquisitor’s door. To have the eye of the Holy Inquisition on you, even if was in good faith was something to worry the most stouthearted of people. The knocks told a story. The hesitant knocks, the ones that wished she would not answer, that was the most common. Administratum workers, sent to deliver reports or respond to requests. There were the confident knocks, those were the other members of her order, the Ordo Hereticus, the ones who saw her as a subordinate, someone to assist and give assistance. This knock was different. This knock had a tember of force. Of impatience, the implication that the door was being knocked as a opening salvo of a battle, that the door would be opened wither it was wanted or not. The sheer uniqueness of this made Rana pause. The small display on her desk showed her doorway, the well hidden camera looking down on the figure standing in front of the door. A noble? She was dressed like one, like someone with more money than fashion sense. The dress she was wearing was a decent color, but small on her, not fitted well. Smiling slightly at what would surely be a afternoon with a humorous story to tell others at the end of it. Picking up a data slate from the stacks on her desk, she began to read through a very boring report on the current output levels of refined steel from one of the forges and said. “Enter.”</p>
<p>The door swung open and a figure of an imposing nature stood in the doorway, for a moment, before walking in. She walked with a purpose, and Rana rethought her first guesses. Military maybe, those legs did not get toned like that with a noble’s exercise. Her arms and shoulders were broad as well, no wonder she had problems getting a dress fitted Rana thought. Her hair was on the short side, more practical than stylish, but it still looked nice. Rana did have a weakness for redheads, she had to admit.  That dress was also designed for someone who’s most demanding exercise was lifting a glass of amnesiac. Maybe it was a mistake, she meant the floor below, or next door…</p>
<p>“You know, shorter heels would have been easier. You’d not have to focus so much on walking.” Rana said, looking back down to her dataslate.</p>
<p>“I do not normally wear them.” The woman said, standing with her legs slightly apart, hands down by her side as she looked down at Rana.</p>
<p>“I can tell. Not to mention with your height…flats may be better. But hey, if you want to stand above people, it’s a good trick. On most people, it may have even worked. I don’t supposes you know which door you knocked on, do you? Oh, where are my manners. Rana Bellhouse. Ordo Hereticus. And you are?” Rana looked at her more closely as she dropped that particular conversational bomb. Odds were good she’d see the look of fear, paranoia and guilt begin to flow across her face, and she would grovel a bit, and try to leave as fast as she could.</p>
<p>The woman narrowed her eyes at Rana and raised an eyebrow. “How rude. I would have introduced myself, but the first thing you did was insult this awful dress.”</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s not awful but you need to take it to a tailor, get it fitted properly. And now, you are? I am rather busy.”</p>
<p>“I am Sister Selora Vero. Order of the Blue Rose.” The woman stood upright, arms down by her side, almost standing at attention.</p>
<p>“Adepta Sororitas. That explains a bit I suppose.” The Adepta Soroitas, the Sisters of Battle. Militant fanatics to the last, marching forward with the light of the Emperor, destroying with extreme prejudice. The Order of the Blue Rose was known to Rana, if at a distance. They didn’t have much to do with each other, even if they technically had overlap in their jurisdictions. Rana was more one on one with heresy, whereas the Sisters…they tended to paint with a wide brush. And they were also trusted, one of the few groups that could be truly trusted to fight the forces of chaos, their faith better than any sort of armor against that vile darkness. This situation was unusual however. To come up here, dressed like this…Rena coughed and and looked Selora up and down again. “Why are you wearing that getup anyway? You know you can just come up and ask me something, you don’t have to…” Rana suddenly grinned and gave a bit of a laugh. “Oh Emperor, are you trying to be subtle? Why on terra are you doing that?”</p>
<p>The sister’s face darkened, both with anger, and a shade of embarrassment. “Because there is a problem that we need to be quiet about! I…suggested this. Marching through the street could have alerted people to our presence. We do not go anywhere without reason.”</p>
<p>“That is more subtle than I’d think, I mean, I’ve worked with other Orders before, they are a bit…set them all on fire and purify their souls. Which is fine in some cases, to be fair.”</p>
<p>“Yes, that is the best way, if it can be done. The power of the Holy Emperor will cleanse the heretics out of their filthy holes. But it sometimes is useful to know where the rats will run to first.”</p>
<p>Rana gave another grin from her seat. “And then the burning, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Well, that is all very intresting and amusing, but why are you here? I have to assume you have a good reason.”</p>
<p>Selora nodded and took up a more relaxed parade rest stance. “Yes. Someone is dead. Father Luther Meyer. Killed down in the underhive.”</p>
<p>Rana raised an eyebrow. “The underhive? Why in Terra’s name was he down there? That place is amazingly dangerous, and I don’t think they’re very Emperor-fearing.”</p>
<p>“Some agreed with you, but he wanted to offer a hand. To allow people to come to him, and rejoin the Emperor’s Light. It would help people escape the temptation of heresy, if there was a place where good people could go.”</p>
<p>“A noble sentiment. Did it work?”</p>
<p>“It did. He had a chapel, a food kitchen and his congregation was growing every day. It was a spot of hope and light in the darkness of the underhive.”</p>
<p>“Then what? I take it the gangers down there didn’t like him messing with their turf?”</p>
<p>Selora shrugged. “They didn’t much like him, but what could they do? Attacking a man of the Emperor? We would have descended on them to purge the wicked with Bolter, Flamer and Melta, to learn the others that we will not stop defending our own!”</p>
<p>Rana paused, looking at the religious fervor that had momentarily come over Selora. “I see. But someone did. And there is very much lacking a troop of heavily armed sisters to knock the ganger population down a notch or two.”</p>
<p>“Yes…that is because of his method of death. It was…confusing.</p>
<p>“How so? How did he die?”</p>
<p>“He was shot with a bolter. A .60 caliber bolter.”</p>
<p>“That…how do you know? A bolter doesn’t exactly leave a nice wound you can measure.”</p>
<p>Selora reached into a pocket on the dress and produced a metal shell casing and placed it on the desk. “The shell was recovered. We were nearby when we heard the shot and explosion. We rushed to find where it had come from, but..well, we were too late. We only found this shell.”</p>
<p>Rana picked up the shell, holding it in her hand, looking at it closely. “There’s makers marks on here…I don’t know the source though, dosen’t ring any bells. Where would you even get this? Shells aren’t this size. A defect maybe? Some ganger got a bunch of defective ammo and put together a way to fire them?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know.” Selora gave a sigh, and looked down. “There is another thing. You must be wondering why we didn’t avenge our fallen priest.”</p>
<p>“I am, seems a bit…well, cut and dry to be honest. Why the attempts at being sneaky?”</p>
<p>“This.” Selora reached into her other pocket and gingerly put down a small metal box. “Open it.”</p>
<p>Rana looked up at her and reached across the desk, picking up the box and opening it. “A…what is this, a horn? A claw?”</p>
<p>“A claw. It was found by the scene of the murder. The killer must have missed it, not known such a clue was dropped. I know the source of that claw. My sisters have fought against the creatures that holds it. That is the tip of the claw of a genestealer.”</p>
<p>Rana leaned back with a sigh. “Oh…That is not good.”</p>
<p>“And now you know why I’m here in this outfit. If the genestealers realize we know they exist, they’ll vanish. Hiding Throne knows where, slowly building up their power, less obvious. Or worst case, they become more aggressive, starting riots, calling their fleets to us.”</p>
<p>“Why me though, This is Xenos stuff, not heresy.”</p>
<p>“First, they killed a man of the Emperor. That is heresy. Secondly, we know of you. You are not as quick to anger as some of your colleges. The members of the Ordo Xenos here would try to purge the whole underhive, pushing them into their next phase. We have fought them before, we know how they work.”</p>
<p>“They do tend to be uncomplicated in their assaults on Xenos. I take it that’s why you decided to talk to me?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Day One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Two of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Yes. You also have a reputation. You’re quiet and thoughtful. And you are willing to wait and strike when the time is right, not when the first heretic pops their head up.”</p><p>“This is true. Alright, this seems like something rather important, and while I will need to report this to the Inquisition, I don’t imagine that will break our cover. If it does, then we have much bigger problems.”</p><p>Selora nodded. “What now?”</p><p>Rana shrugged, getting to her feet, and reaching for her laspistol. It was a trusted piece of equipment, well used and accurate, if a bit less showy than the bolt pistols that were more common in the hands of the Inquisition. But firing a mass-reactive shell that exploded inside of it’s target was stealth defeating and gathered attention. Sometimes you wanted to go in loud, but Rana had read enough reports on failed Inquisitors who rushed in guns blazing and ended up a footnote in a report. A battered coat was also on a rack, and Rana shrugged it on before turning to look up at Selora. She was very tall, and those heels made her even more imposing. Still, it wasn’t a bad angle. She picked up her bag with various bits of gear, and then moved towards her door.  </p><p>“First thing. I need to look at the site of the murder. How long ago was this?” Rana walked out of her office, holstering her pistol and moving down the hall as Selora clacked her heels behind her.</p><p>“We discovered the body around twelve hours ago. We arrived at the scene of the crime not a minute after the shot sounded.”</p><p>“Hmmph. If this ever happens again, remember that time is off the essence. The faster you can look at the scene, the faster we can get a solid understanding. Where was this?”</p><p>“The underhive. I can show you…but I don’t think this is the proper outfit for a trawl down there.” Selora looked down at herself, the heels already starting to pick up dirt and it was obvious that she wanted something with more armor and coverage.</p><p>“Heh, no, as fun as that would be, you’d stand out less if you marched down there in full power armor. I don’t suppose you brought some basic clothes, something with some wear and tear in it?”</p><p>“No, I did not think we would be going down there right away…I assumed we would meet later to begin the investigations.”</p><p>“You lot don’t do a lot of investigations, I can tell.”</p><p>Selora bristled a bit at this, letting out a dismissive grunt. “We are the Wrath of the God-Emperor, We follow His will to smite His enemies.”</p><p>“Yes yes, I know. And now, we need to stop here. Follow me and don’t say anything you’re gonna get enough strange looks.” Rana pushed her way through the crowd of people, and headed to a small shop set up against one of the walls. She pushed the door open and walked into a densely packed shop, clothes of various make and wear lined the walls, so densely packed that it was hard to see anything past the rows. Rana walked down the row, and then grabbed at a rack, pulling out a jumpsuit. It was stained with oil, and while some effort had gone into cleaning it, it was also clear that there was only so much you could do. “Here we go this…well, should fit. Close enough in any case. You are very hard to measure properly, you know?”</p><p>“Yes, I know, thank you for pointing it out again.” Selora walked behind her, looking at the clothes. “Now what?”</p><p>“Now, get some shoes that fit, and get ready to move. This’ll be a lot less noticeable. Also you hate that dress right?” Without waiting for an answer, Rana moved to the counter where a old lady was sitting behind it, her augmentic eye whirring as it focused on Rana.</p><p>“Eh? What do you want?” Her voice was stilted, the mechanical leads coming from her throat revealed a past history of nasty chemical exposure, but to be honest, find anyone in the hive that didn’t have something of that, or at least someone who lived below the upper levels.</p><p>“Buying this. And some boots.” Rana tuned to Selora and raised her voice. “You find anything that fits yet?”</p><p>Selora approached the counter with a  bit of a grim look on her face, and put the pair of mostly clean boots on the counter. “I suppose so.”</p><p>“Good, good. Now, How’s a trade sound.” Rana said, looking at the shopkeeper. “This is quite a nice dress, but it’s a bit unsubtle. Dress for these, yes?”</p><p>“Wait, what?” Selora said taking a step back. “You…Eeeh, Ok, fine. Just…where can I change?”</p><p>The shopkeeper made a gesture to the back wall, where a dingy closet with a scrap of cloth across the entrance was just visible. “In there. Be right here, waitin. Pleasure doing business with you.”</p><p>Selora gave a grumble and took the jumpsuit and boots, heading back to the changing room, where she emerged after a few moments, looking a bit more comfortable, but in about the same level of humor. She put the dress and heels on the counter with a glare at the shopkeeper, who took them off the counter with remarkable speed, as Rana nodded and lead Selora out.</p><p>“You know, that dress was actually a bit costly. We don’t have that sort of things at the convent, we had to get one a few hours ago.”</p><p>“And now it will help make that woman some extra money, so it’s ok. Besides, you were about to tear that thing in any case. Whoever sold it to you was either an idiot or trying to fleece you. I’m just glad she accepted it as straight trade, that’s a good jumpsuit, nice heavy cloth and no big tears.”</p><p>“Yes yes, fine. Just…lets get this over with. I don’t like not having my weapons on me.”</p><p>“Lead the way. You know where we’re going.”</p><p>Selora nodded and moved through the crowd, her size helping maneuver through the press of bodies, towards the transports. “We need to take the rail down to the lower levels, getting into the underhive will be a bit harder, but they know me there, and the convent is still maintaining a hold on the Chapel down in the underhive proper.”</p><p>“Right. It’ll take some time to get down there. What does the Order of the Blue Rose do to kill time?” Rana moved towards the transports, boarding and walking down the aisle to a seat.</p><p>“We don’t. Wasting time is disrespecting the God-Emperor’s gift to us. We pray, or prepare ourselves in some way. We must be ever ready.”</p><p>“Well, we have at least three hours. How about you prepare by telling me exactly what you found. Where, when, all the details.”</p><p>Selora nodded and leaned back on the seat, organizing her thoughts. “We were at the Chapel. The day was going well, we were doing what the Canoness humorlessly calls tending to the flock. Mostly we were being seen, letting people know the Light of the Emperor extends even down to the depths of the underhive, and was not something to hide from. I am being a bit harsh on the people down there perhaps, they live in a very difficult situation, but we could help them, if they wanted to be. Sadly, many do not.”</p><p>Rana gave a nod as she listened. “That is often the case. People do hate change, even if the change would be better for them.”</p><p>“True. In any case, we were there, working, preparing food and things for the people who needed help. Not exactly what people picture when the Adepta Sororitas are working, but as we have been told, stopping a infection before it starts is better than cutting off the limb when it goes rotten. That was what was on my mind when the shot was heard. Bolters have a bit of a unique sound to them, the blast of the shell and then the acceleration of the bolt, the explosion soon after. We heard it and ran towards the sound. I think Sister Mara actually had a cooking knife in her hand.” Selora gave a bit of a laugh at this, shaking her head. “It was what was near to hand, and the time spent looking for another weapon would have taken too long. At least that was what she said afterwards. In any case, four of us ran down the steps, the shooting having been so close to the Mission. We came down the steps and around the corner. There was no crowd, I remember that, it was odd. Normally when someone gets killed, the vultures are there before the body has stopped twitching. Robbing the dead, pulling off anything of value…but this time, nothing. There was some sound of running, but it was gone in the gloom of the Underhive.”</p><p>“And he was there?” Rana said</p><p>“What was left of him. An unarmored human, with a bolter shell in the chest. It was very violent. Blood and bits of bone were scattered, the blood still pooling underneath him as he lay there. We called for assistance, and began to secure the area. We did not know what we were fighting, not yet, but one battlefield is much like another. The alleys and tunnels were empty as we watched, waiting for our backup. When they arrived, we began to search in earnest, and that was when we found the shell. And the claw.”</p><p>Rana frowned at this again, shaking her head. “That shell…That’s what I am really confused about. Someone losing a bunch of defective shells or something? That doesn’t make sense. Bolters also kick hard enough to break a person’s arm, these are not weapons someone pulls out and fires without training.” Rana looked up at the softly glowing map, showing their progress and seemed to come to a decision. “We’re making a stop before the mission. I have a friend who may be able to assist.”</p><p>“I thought you said time was of the essence?”</p><p>“It is, which is why we’re not gonna go down there, realize we need her, and then come back. It won’t take long, she’ll be interested. Believe me, We show her this shell, she’ll drop what she’s working on to find out more about it.”</p><p>“Who is this friend? And where are they? Some sort of….underworld contact?”</p><p>Rana glanced at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Despite what you may have heard, all Inquisitiors do not have shady contacts that they use in every investigation. She’s a Tech-priest. Kati Min. She helped me rig up some servoskulls for some quiet infiltration work, a nice girl, heh, but…well…” Rana looked at Selora again.  “You have much dealing with the Mechanicum?”</p><p>“Not too much, save what we do for supply of armor and weapons. They not exactly…sociable.”</p><p>“Well, some would say the same about you.” Rana said with a bit of a grin. “But no, they can be, you just have to speak their language. You ask them tech questions and they won’t shut up. Kati is a nice person though, barely holds any contempt for me for the grave sin of not being closer to the Omnissiah.”</p><p>“And…this is a friend of yours?”</p><p>“Oh sure. I listen to her, and have on occasion managed to slip her a little something in the tech field. You’d be amazed what those nobles manage to squirrel away."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Day Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Three of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I think I would be. How long will it take to get there?”</p><p>“We’ll get off soon, then it’s just a bit of a trek across the industrial sector on this level.” Rana sat back in her seat again, watching the trip progress on the flickering screen above her head. The Adeptus Mechanicus, or the Admech were the great fabricators of the Imperium. They were it’s knowledge, all of the scientific development was in their hands, and much has been lost in the millennia of the past. Many things were lost to time, the how of creation vanished in the dust of time, but anything that was unique or new was frantically searched for or guarded. Rana looked up again, and got to her feet, stretching slightly. “This is us. Come on, It’s gonna be enough of an ordeal to get into the tech-priest manufactorium and research centers.”</p><p>“Can’t you just wave your Inquisition credentials and get us in the door no problem?”</p><p>“I can, but I don’t want to. First of all, they may take offence.” Rana gave Selora a nudge to get her moving down the hall, the crowd parting around her like ice in front of a ship. “We don’t need them wasting hours just to teach us that the Omnisaiah’s mysteries will not be hurried. Second of all, We’re going behind the backs of the high level tech priests to get this piece of tech to Kati. We can’t show them, they would get lost in the mystery, and for throne’s sake they would not be coming with us down to the underhive. At least not without a massive influx of forces. Kati will come by herself, which is what we need.”</p><p>The two of them exited the transport and began to walk down roadways that were caked with dirt and grime, the overhead expanse of buildings leaning in, causing a cave-like effect, the lumens above them glowing softly, flickering every so often. The whir of the air recyclers was ever-present, the air having the taste and feel of a starship. That was actually slightly comforting for Selora, the time spent on ships, fighting for the Emperor’s judgement when she was a novice some of her happy memories. The noise grew louder though, and the mass of the manufactorium was ahead of them, stretching up and outwards, the few windows glowing with the forges inside, the massive exhaust pipes pumping the fumes Emperor knew where, bits of smoke and smoke leaking from the gaskets, giving the air more chemical tang than Selora was sure was strictly healthy. She had a brief moment of wishing for her armor, those rebreathers capable of filtering out the most noxious elements, but pushed it back down. She was here now, and she must keep her mind on the mission. The Emperor protects.</p><p>Rana took a turn at a roadway leading alongside the huge building, glancing back to make sure Selora was following. “Stay close, we’re gonna move fast. If anyone asks, just say you’re on assignment to bay twelve, no time to waste.”</p><p>“What’s bay twelve?” Selora said, bending over slightly to avoid the low hanging pipeworks.</p><p>“No idea. I think it’s empty, but it allows me to get through people. You’d be amazed how many holes there are in security. I report and patch the big ones, but the littles ones are useful.” The two of them arrived at a small doorway, the access pad next to the lock glowing faintly. Rana approached it, and began to fiddle, pulling a tool out of her bag. The light on the access panel gave a bit of a stutter, and then with a almost sullen feel, the light changed color, and the lock clicked. “Easily done.”</p><p>“And what would happen if the tech-priests found you?” Selora said, following Rana into the din of the factory.</p><p>“Say I was testing the security, well done, you caught me, but it took too long. Next time, I expect you to sound the alert at least five seconds faster.”</p><p>“And that works?”</p><p>“Haven’t tried it yet, but it should. Now keep quiet, we’re just lowly workers, we don’t talk.” Rana led the way through the narrow corridors, the light and sound coming from all sides, openings in the hall revealing the massive fabricators at work, servitors moving back and forth, hauling carts of ore into smelters that stretched across the floor. A turn down the hall made the noise start to fade as they walked up stairs, heading higher into the bowels of the building. The hallway led out into a larger area, a workshop of sorts, with techpriests working at stations, repairing and analyzing. Their mechanical arms worked over strange devices with slow deliberation. Rana moved along the side of the room, towards a corner area that was a bit more empty. There was a Tech-priest there, but what she was working on was not visible. Rana came up behind her and gave her a poke on the shoulder. “Kati?”</p><p>The figure turned around quickly, and gave a large smile. “Rana! Good to see you again, ooh, what’s going on? Something new happen?” The tech-priest was taller than Rana bit a bit, and her eyes had been replaced, but she would probaly claim improved with a set of optics that glowed red, lenses and mechanics clicking softly inside of them. One hand had implants running along the ourside, figners modified to hold multitools and sensors, but the most notable thing of her was the Mechanadendrites that sprouted from her back. Thick around as her arm, there were four of them attached in some way under her robes, and they moved quickly, seemingly looking at Selora.</p><p>“And who’s your friend?” Kati’s voice had a mechanical lilt to it, almost as if a music box was talking, a soft metallic ring with every word, as she moved forward. Selora could see her own face reflected in the red glass, the lenses clicking. “Hmm…Don’t recognize her.”</p><p>“Her name’s Selora. She’s got something to show you. Something…I have not seen before.”</p><p>“Oooh, really? Let me see!” A tendril moved forwards in front of Selora, the manipulator hands flexing. Reaching into her pocket, Selora produced the bolter shell casing, and with a bit of trepetation put it into the claw. The dendrite moved backwards, towards Kati’s face, and she looked at it closely.</p><p>“A bolter shell…but smaller than standard size. And…The maker mark is visible, give me a moment, very small. Supurb work…” Kati trailed off for a moment, and then looked up at Selora. “Where did you get this?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Day Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Four of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“At a murder site. A priest was found dead. This was what killed him.”</p><p>“That’s not possible. You were mistaken.” Kati said, turning back to the workbench, the casing being held under a scanning device that began to beep softly.”</p><p>“I assure you, I am not. If you cannot help, then tell us, we will then leave.” Selora turns slightly away, and looks at Rana. “We are wasting time.”</p><p>“Just…calm down. Kati, why is it impossible? What’s wrong?”</p><p>Kati doesn’t respond to them, the screen over the scanner reading some kind of gibberish that scrolled quickly past the screen. Kati was reading the symbols with great focus and shook her head, giving the side of the machine a hit. “The machine spirit is being obstinate. Give me a moment. It is returning impossible information.”</p><p>“Kati. What impossible information?” Rana said in a quiet voice, trying to keep her calm. “What is it?”</p><p>“It’s saying this shell is of a manufacture from the Great Crusade, which of course is impossible, if for no other reason than it’s not ten thousand years old.”</p><p>Selora started, looking at the shell. “The…Great Crusade? When the God Emperor still walked the galaxy, turning his hand to control of the worlds therein? Ten thousand years ago?”</p><p>“According to this misbehaving spirit, the forge date of this shell was 10,230 years ago, if you just went by the manufactorim marks and sigils on it, but those can be faked!” Kati seemed to be yelling at the scanning device before letting out a sigh. “Hold on, I need to purify this Machine Spirit.” She began to dig in her desk, and returned with a small censor and a bottle. A flame appeared on one end of her tendril and the censor was lit, thick smoke beginning to come out of it, drifting up and above. She took the bottle in her other hand and began dabbing it on the screen while murmering quiet prayers. After a few minutes, she straightend up and waved the smoke away. “Alright, that should have calmed it down. Now, scan it again.” The scanning eye moved over the shell, and once again, the sigils scrolled down the screen. Kati let out a short breath and stood up. “Where was this found?” she turned to Selora as her tendrils began to take things off her desk, packing them in a bag.</p><p>“It…Was un the underhive. By one a mission ran by the murdered man.”</p><p>“Fine, fine. Now, lead the way. I must go there as soon as I can. If this is what the computer says, then there is no time to loose. Some of the Omnissiah’s hidden mysteries could be there, and we must act fast! Now, lead the way!” The tendril placed the bag on her shoulder and she gripped it, gestureing at Selora. “Now please!”</p><p>Selora gave a bit of a start, but turned to the Rana as she began to walk down the hall, towards the exit through the winding paths. Kati seemed to be following but only barely paying attention, muttering to herself, her hands and fingers twitching as she did. The path through the depths of the factory were uneventful as before, anyone who could care they were there would never debase themselves with creeping through the tunnels, and anyone who would be there was only focused on their work. The door was right where they rememberd it and they went through it, back out in the relatively clean air and quiet.</p><p>“Come on, come on! I’m doing a deep noosphere scan, but the information is not being found or is locked. Or is so old no one knows it’s even there. The only reason the scanner picked up on it was that the mathematical sequence of the forging date is something that is readily read and decoded. One has to be able to know where and when a munition is made, otherwise how will you know who to punish after one doesn’t work?” Kati gives a bit of a laugh at this as they walked down the street, gathering more attention now, the red-robed tech priest following behind the other two, her tendrils correcting her stance, lifting over and obstacles and on one occasion Selora noticed, snaking forward and shoving someone out of the way.</p><p>They managed to make it to the transport without too much of a problem, and Kati’s very obvious identity as a tech-priest had them moved to the front of the line, and respectfully ushered to a small private cabin. The porter gave Kati a bow, eyes glancing at the more shabbly dressed Rana and Selora, and then backed out quietly, shutting the door.</p><p>“According to records, the new mission, named “The Returning Light” was set up almost a year ago, and has been doing well, the foot traffic has increased and your order, the Blue Rose has been set up there in a cycle to offer assistance and protection, but it has yet to be seriously threated. I also noticed that while the Priest’s murder was noted, the method of death was not. Why is this?”</p><p>Selora gave a sigh and sat back, rubbing a hand over her forehead. “Because there’s an addition problem we needed to keep quiet. Here…” Selora handed over the small box, which was deftly plucked from her hand by the tendril. “Do you know what that is?”</p><p>Kati opened the box, her lenses clicking into a new position as she looked closely. “Biological. Chitin mainly, some other organic elements to give strength and sharpness. Broke off, somewhat recently, the pulp inside is still…a bit fresh. I have a number of theories, but why don’t you tell me yours first?”</p><p>“Genestealer claw.”</p><p>“Ah, one of the options I had arrived at. Slightly low, however. What makes you so sure?”</p><p>“My order fought them. Before we came here, there was a call for help. Some sort of awakened hive, and they were barely holding on. We diverted to the planet, and strove to give as much assistance as we could. All of humanity is under the protection of the Emperor, and we are his sword. We could not leave them.”</p><p>“Mmm, I see…The fight go well?”</p><p>“Yes. We suffered heavy casulaites, but in the end we managed to purge the unclean from the planet. We moved on, arriving here where we maned the chapel in the upper levels, offering guidance and protection for Tarala.”</p><p>“I see. Well, if you have seen something like this before, I’m willing to believe you. Is the threat of a uprising the reason for your omission?”</p><p>“Yes. The genestealer cult is insidious, and they can be anywhere. We must be careful and vigilant.”</p><p>“Logical. Now how much longer will it take to get to the mission?”</p><p>Rana gave a bit of a shrug. “If all goes well, a hour or so. Relax for a bit, I’m worried that this is gonna get a lot worse.”</p><p>“That is likely. The underhive is a very dangerous place at the best of times, although I cannot think what exactly would be a best time for the underhive. It is a lawless place, the dregs of humanity filtered down.”</p><p>“That’s why we’re not gonna start anything. Not yet. This is recon, not an attack. Attacks come later when we’re prepared.” Rana leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, trying to force out and silence the sounds of the transport.</p><p> </p><p>After some time, Rana opened a eye, as the train shook slightly, a bell tolling through the compartments. Selora was seemingly praying, her eyes closed, hands clasped in front of her as she whispered to herself, whereas Kati was in her own world, possibly literlary, her eyes flashing and blinking as her hands and fingers twitched. “Up you get you two. I think we’re close. Look familiar Selora?”</p><p>Selora kept her eyes closed for a moment, before finisheing her prayer, making the sign of the Aquilia and opening her eyes. “Hard to tell. So much of the hive looks the same. But I think so…The names are right. Once we get out, I will know my bearing much better.”</p><p>“Right. Lets get moving. And Kati, we’re being subtle, so no sneaking off to fix lights or anything.”</p><p>“A fault that can be fixed is an abomination to the Omnissiah.” Kati said primly, getting to her feet. “But in this case, I shall just make a note of the location for the future.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Rana moved out into the hallway, heading to the exit portals. Not many people were getting on here, and even fewer were getting off. Rana could see soldiers out by the entrance, hands on their lasrifles, making sure the people didn’t try to rush the train, maybe even try to take it over, pushing a army of the underclass up towards the spires. The three of them exited the transport and looked around the dark station. It was beat up, worn and dirty, every surface seemed have some sort of dirt or grime on it, rust streaked down the walls in red rivults and the creaking and noise from above had a more sinister feel, as if the upper levels would shake and fall onto this level, crushing all underneath, and then the spire would only build higher, leaving anyone who fell to their fate.</p><p>“Ok Selora, where to? I really don’t want to be here any longer than I have to.”</p><p>“This way.” Selora pointed to a massive access corordor, the flickering lumens on the roof only accenting the gloom as people walked in and out of it. “It’s down this path, then left. It’s visible, that was important, Father Meyer said. To give people a star to steer by, something they would be pulled to.”</p><p>“This father sounds like a very good person.” Rana said as they walked into the corodor, the gapeing maw a half circle fifty feet high.</p><p>“He was. He was a true man of the Emperor, working to better his flock and show them the light.”</p><p>“Very noble.” Rana muttered as they made their turn, and even at this distance, their target was obvious. The mission was a simple building, but even that humble building stood out like a beacon. It was a brilliant white, with a line of lights going up, and around, a line of glowing lumens to the roof of the hall, glittering gently.</p><p>“Very…well thought out. Noone’s gonna miss that place.”</p><p>“That was the goal. Now, lets move quickly, we had sealed off the area, but well…those don’t last long. We command enough to try to keep people away, but we can’t watch everywhere at once.”</p><p>“Understood, We’ll just have to see what we can.”</p><p>Selora lead them past the entrance to the building, the fully armored Battle sister, with her armor of black and blue, accented in silver standing by the doorway. She gave a slow short nod to the trio as they walked, and Selora gave a nod back, moving around the side of the building. The alley was still cordoned off, a electrostatic barrier doing it’s best to keep people away. “Here.” Selora keyed a disable code in the access panel and the sparking fizzing field shit down with a final pop. The three of them walked through as Selora reactivated the field behind them. “Now…What do you need to know?”</p><p>Rana nodded and looked over the alley. It was…almost boring. A long alley, some side passages to other buildings, nothing that you would not have seen a thousand times before. Now, the splash of various blood and bone on the wall and floor, that made it a bit different. Rana knelt down, looking at the stain on the floor where the priest had died. “Kati, I assume you’re scanning now?”</p><p>“Yes indeed, if there’s another scrap of that archotech around here I am gonna find it, you have my word.”</p><p>“Well, don’t get tunnel vision. Look for anything else weird. Sel, where did you find the other thing?”</p><p>Selora looked a bit taken aback by the shortening of her name and then looked over at a building  the wooden beam was damaged, and she pointed. “Right there. The claw was there, imbedded into the wood.”</p><p>Rana moved to the wooden beam, looking at it closely. “Intresting. Claw mark, going upwards. I take it the priest wasn’t a big fighter.”</p><p>“No, he was not. He was a orator, but combat was not his gift.”</p><p>“Right…We have three indivuals. The priest, the stealer, and someone else, who, we have to assume, had a gun that fired shells that were made when the Emperor still walked.”</p><p>“That’s the one who interests me. Where did those shells COME from? You can’t just pick up a ten millennia old box of shells an fire them. Propellant goes bad, and from the look of things, those shells were in perfect working order.”</p><p>“I know…This is just strange.” Rana moved her hand down the damaged beam, her fingers finding the scratch and indent where Selora had found the claw fragment. She moved her hand again, as if she was the one swiping, and followed the motion of the claw. “It stood here…attacked, not the priest but the other one. Stood here…and slashed…” Rana crouched down, beginning to sift through the detritus on the floor.</p><p>“What are you looking for?” Selora moved over to her, looking over her shoulder.</p><p>“Evidence. That thing is made of pointy bits. Someone shot the priest, and then something else attacked the shooter. And odds are good that our clawed friend got a knick in. I think you would agree?”</p><p>Selora gave a bit of a breath and nodded. “They are…very fast. Blindly fast, when they swarmed, it was like they had just appeared. One’s claws were a blur, deflecting and slicing into my sisters.”</p><p>“Right…So some random ganger who got some weird piece of tech? No way. I’m surprised we didn’t find his body here as well…but…Ah-ha.” Rana moved a scrap of paper, a dark stain on the ground, It was still wet, and seemed oddly sticky and dark.</p><p>“Kati! Come on over here, we got something."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Day Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Five of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What? Find another shell?” Kati skittered over, her tendrils lifting her over the ground and putting her next to Selora, looking over her shoulder.</p><p>“No, I think it’s some kind of body fluid…not mechanical, but not sure on it. Can you scan it, get some kinda info on it?”</p><p>“I can, give me a moment.” Kati extended one of her tendrils out to the fluid, giving it a poke, a small needle extending out and into the goo. A red light also lit up from the front of the tendril, glowing over the goo. “Ok, got it…Organic, yes. Blood. Human…well, in theory. This has been chemically enhanced to an extreme degree. Could be a chem-ganger, but my setup here isn’t really good for chemical analysis. We’d have to go back to do a proper analysis, get some more gear.”</p><p>“Do we have to do it at the manufactorum? I’d like to keep this on the downlow, if at all possible.”</p><p>Kati shrugged. “The cogitator is moveable, and the scanner is as well. Where do you want it to be?”</p><p>“My office would be the best place. Should be able to fit, we’ll clear off some space. It’s not like, the size of a tank is it?”</p><p>“Oh no, it should fit in your office with room to spare. I will bring a servitor for the heavy lifting, should be there in about four hours.” Kati scraped the rest of the fluid, placing the thick goo into a vial. “Ok, that’s sealed. Lets head back to the upper levels, we’ll get this figured out. Very strange…The chemicals I managed to see on my first run through were very odd. Looks like our relationship is paying off again Rana! Now, lets go, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”</p><p>Rana nodded and turned from the crime scene, moving back through the shock fence, and out into the main thoroughfare. “That schedule work for you Sel?”</p><p>Selora nodded. “If it helps find out what’s going on, then that is fine. I will meet you back at your office in four hours then.”</p><p>“Why? Come on to my office and we’ll get some rest and some food while we wait. You ever had the noodles they serve on my level? Very good stuff, nice and spicy.”</p><p>“I…have not, I mainly eat at the convent. We live a simple life to focus our faith.”</p><p>“Well, come to the office, we can still focus. And believe me, if you get the extra chilies, then the focus will be real, trust me.”</p><p>“If…you say so. This is important we solve this as soon as possible.”</p><p>“Good! Ok, we’ll drop off Kati, and head back to my office. It’s a date.” Rana gave a bit of a grin, and turned to the exit of the tunnel, leaving the slightly confused Selora trailing behind her.</p><p> </p><p>The two of them walked back to the office, Selora holding the two containers, the smell wafting up, her eyes slightly watering from the fumes. “And this is food people normally eat?”</p><p>“Sure, people quite like it. This is the medium spice as well, I can barely take the hot.” Rana moved through the doorway, holding it open for Selora. “Now take a seat, and relax, we got some time to get our thoughts in order.” Rana sat down behind her desk, breaking the seal on the container of food, giving it a smell, and grinning. “Ahh, that’s the good stuff. Clear your sinuses.” She sat back, and began to eat. “Now, lets go through what we know.”</p><p>Selora took a smell of the noodles and gingerly ate a small forkful, before letting out a cough, her face flushing. “I…this is…very hot. The…flavor is nice though…once the burning fades.”</p><p>“Mmm, don’t worry you’ll get used to it. Then you’ll never want to eat anything less painful.” Rana grinned at Selora, sweat beginning to form on her face as she ate. “Now, as much fun as it is to see you blush, lets talk about what’s going on. We have a dead priest, a bolter shell that is from the Great Crusade, or at least looks very much like one, and a broken off piece of a genestealer. I’ll be honest this is a situation that I have never dealt with in any way. I have some possible thoughts, but I’d like your conclusions, or at least what we can form with this information.”</p><p>Selora nodded, her face still red, and swallowed the mouthful of noodles. “Right…sorry. Ok. Father Meyer was killed by the bolter. That is obvious. There was a genestealer there. That is less obvious, but a safe conclusion. The question we don’t know is who shot him. I mean, it could’ve been an accident. Someone with a bolter tries to shoot the genestealer who’d going after the priest, misses, killing him, but scaring off the xeno. They then run, cause they don’t want to be asked any questions, and they did just kill a priest.”</p><p>“Or they could’ve thought the priest had been infected.” Rana had had little experience with the first wave of the Tyranids, the Genestealers. Insidious and dangerous, their method was to infect a innocent target. They would then be tainted, the xeno taint controlling their impulses, forcing them to find a mate, breeding and spreading the taint, every generation becoming more and more tainted. They would spread quietly, taking in more people until they were ready to rebel, sending up a psychic call to the Tyranids, the endless hunger of the horde descending on the planet, striping everything, down to the bacterium, and transporting the raw biomass back to the huge breeding ships, making even more of their horrifying forces.</p><p>“That is possible. An infected person has one resource, there is no cure.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Day Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Six of NaNoWriMo</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I know. Give them the Emperor’s Peace. So, we have a possible protection happening, they shoot the genestealer, miss and hit the priest.”</p><p>“That is very likely, if they are untrained in the use of a bolter, the shot can go wild.” Selora took another bite, inhaling sharply as the hot sauce hit her tongue. “We must train for a long while before we can hit a shot with any accuracy, and we have the advantage of power armor. I’m told that desperate solders have tried to lift and fire a fallen Space Marine’s weapon and had it break their arms with the first shot.” Selora gives a bit of a laugh and shakes her head. “That’s if they can even lift it. Without my armor, I can barely lift my own scaled down bolter, let alone one made for the Emperor’s Angels.”</p><p>“You ever met a Space Marine?” Rana said, sitting with her feet up again, watching as Selora took bites, each time her face flushing and sweat forming on her brow. Cute, to be sure. A bit uptight, but that can be fun sometimes. She didn’t think that the Sisters of Battle had any actual rules for celibacy, but then again neither did Inquisitiors. Didn’t mean she was able to, not like most of the people she ran into on a day to day basis would be interested.</p><p>“Once. I did fight with a group of them, but I don’t know if you can call that meeting. We barely saw them, but the glances we were able to see were remarkable. They stand a head taller than me, possibly more so. And their speed! They moved with such fluid grace, it was like they were wearing no armor at all. Their power swords and bolters sang in a wonderful harmony…I consider it one of the proudest moments of my service to the Emperor to be on the same battlefield as them.”</p><p>“They are quite something. I’ve not worked with them, but I’ve heard the stories.” Rana scooped up the last bit of her food and set the container aside. “Never worked with Sisters though. Heh, was always a fan of your work though. I think it’s the armor. Gives you a real intimidating look.” She gave a slight grin at Selora. “Could’ve been placed there, but the Scola decided I was better suited for this particular lifestyle. Always admired you though, even if from a distance.”</p><p>“Well, thank you. The time spent working with you has also been useful. We managed to find some very important information and with faith in the Emperor, we will get to the bottom of this mystery.”</p><p>“That is very true. We’ll know more once Kati gets here, should be about another hour or so.”</p><p>“Alright then. What can we do to pass the time?”</p><p>Rana gave a bit of a grin and a laugh. “Well, some ideas. For now, do you ever play cards?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Ha! Take this. Two pair, pot is mine.” Rana slapped down her cards and went to gather up the small piles of coins.</p><p>“Sorry. Three of a kind.” Selora laid down her cards with a grin and scooped up the pot.</p><p>“Damn! Where did a Holy Sister learn to play cards like that?”</p><p>“You know how long it takes to travel between systems? We train, we pray, we prepare ourselves, but sharpening a blade too often makes it brittle. One must have time to center yourself.”</p><p>“Didn’t you say that killing time was a waste of the Emperor’s gifts or something earlier?” Rana sat back, shuffling the cards again.</p><p>“It is. However, building a rapport with your team is always useful. Learning another’s strengths and weaknesses is never a waste of time, and in something like this, many things can be learned. For instance, you tend to overplay hands.”</p><p>“And you are very good at bluffing, you didn’t flinch a few hands ago. What did you even have, I tossed a straight into the trash.”</p><p>“Come now, telling someone what you had is just rude. But I will say…It wasn’t great.”</p><p>Rana huffed tossing the deck back on the table. “Well, that’s just great. When is Kati gonna get here anyway…before I lose even more money.”</p><p>“Oh relax, we’re not playing high stakes.”</p><p>“That’s worse! I lose honor and that’s much harder to get back. You know what the Inquisition would say if they found out I lost badly in cards to a Sister of Battle? I mean, I was a bit distracted…” Rana muttered to herself.</p><p>“Distracted? By what?”</p><p>Rana seems to freeze for a moment, before starting to shuffle again. “Oh, you know, losing my focus after a few bad hands, heh, doesn’t do to lose concentration when things get rough.”</p><p>“Ahh, true. So, another hand?”</p><p>Rana looked up at a monitor on her desk and shook her head. “No, as fun as that would be to get beaten again, I think Kati is here. Or there’s a large box slowly moving down the hall on it’s own.” Rana stood up from the desk and moved to the door, swinging it open. “Kati! That you?”</p><p>“Yes! Sorry, had to get a slower servitor, just so it wasn’t extremely noticeable. Now stand clear, I’m pretty sure this’ll fit through the door.”  The huge crate moved forward slowly, the whir of servos and the faint sent of decaying flesh that always accompanied Servitors was perceptible, and the box moved towards the doorframe. The edges of it moved to the frame, shifting tiny amounts before pushing through, barely a hair of clearance on the sides of the door as it came in, and was set in the middle of the floor. Kati emerged from behind the servitor giving it a pat on the head. “Good, now, stand against the wall and wait for further instructions.” The Servitor gave it’s greying head a not and clanked to the side, coming to a resting state by the wall, going still and silent.</p><p>“Great! No problems then?”</p><p>Kati shook her head. “No problems at all. All smooth. Now lets get to work hmm? I want to find this person who has a piece of possible archotech. I mean, can you imagine it? What if a STC fragment is somewhere and that’s how he’s building it? It would be a find of such glorious importance!”</p><p>“I agree, now, lets get to work. Fire up this thing, and lets get scanning.”</p><p>Kati nodded and her tendrils reached out, beginning to poke and prod the sides of the box. There was a gentle clanking and humming as the side of the box began to unfold, expanding out, revealing a monitor and other technical devices. “Ok, just relax for a bit. I’ll get the sample in.”  Kati lifted the vial from her pocket and gently placed it in a mechanical arm on the device. It was quickly snapped back, a door closing over it as the machine began to hum.</p><p>Rana moved over by Kati, trying to decipher the scrolling information. “Lets see…well, looks like it’s human blood. Sort of anyway…What’s all this extra stuff in there?”</p><p>“Stims, combat boosters…even growth hormones…Very high density of hemoglobin though, if it was fresh I’d be a bright red I’d bet. There’s something else though…There, see those?” Kati pointed to the screen, at several cells, looking almost like a thick spiderweb, crisscrossing the sample. “Those are not normal. It’s like some kind of…super platlet I think. You get cut and this stuff clogs the wound at once. Probaly why we only found that one bit of blood, he must’ve stopped bleeding almost instantly.”</p><p> </p><p>“Advanced platlets? Where would you get something like that, someone knock over a hospital?”</p><p>“No, this isn’t anything I recognize from the databases I reviewed. I can do a deeper search however. See if it matches anything.” Kati moved to another keyboard and began to type furiously, pausing after a moment to mutter something and give the side of the computer a whack with the palm of her hand. “And now we wait, should have something before too long. This is very strange, I’ve never seen blood like this. Servitors have a crazy chemical soup going through them, and some of the penial legions are even worse, they’re loaded with so many drugs that you could chew their blood, and I’ve never seen something like this.”</p><p>Selora frowned and looked at the readout. “We use arco-flagellants on occasion, and they are very violent, very fast as well. Could it be something like that?”</p><p>“Possible, but how in the Omnissiah’s name would something like that get down there? Aren’t they basically ticking bombs you point in the direction of the enemy? They’d kill everything they could see.”</p><p>“True, true…” Selora gave a sigh. “Seems like we’re just discovering more problems.”</p><p>“True, but that’s how the mysteries of the machine work sometimes! You fix one problem and discover two more. But eventually, with faith and diligence you run out of things that can go wrong, and then everything works perfectly!” The computer gave a soft ding, and a scrolling entry showed up on the screen. “Here we go…wait…” Kati began to type furiously, cursing in Techna-Lingua.</p><p>“What’s wrong?”</p><p>“I’m locked out, says it’s restricted access, cursed Machine sprit, I am the access! Now give me the information I require!”</p><p>“Here, Kati, let me try. My override might work.”</p><p>“Hmmph, fine. Use your Inquisition privileges. Not like the mysteries of the Omnissiah are important or anything…”</p><p>“Oh, stop grousing.” Rana brought up the command console and input her override. “Just be glad we’re such good friends.”</p><p>Kati moved back to the console, still muttering and began to bring up the previously restricted file. “Says…Hm. That’s odd. Says it has references, but in medical records of Adeptus Astartes. Hold on…”</p><p>Selora started, coming up behind Kati, standing next to Rana. “What? Space Marine? What do you mean?”</p><p>“Just that. Hold on.” The cogitator clicked again, more data streaming down the screen. “Those are Larraman’s Cells. Platelets that work much much better than yours. That is Space Marine blood.”</p><p>“That is impossible. There are no chapters here! We would know. And you, Rana, you would know as well, right?”</p><p>Rana gave a nod. “We would. A space marine is not something you miss. And it’s not something that misses either. We need to re-think the proposal we had.”</p><p>“You’re saying the Space Marine shot the priest on purpose? That…but why? Why would they?”</p><p>“Don’t know. There are the heretic Astartes, but well…they are not ones for subtle maneuvers either. You ever fought the traitor legions Sel?”</p><p>“No. I have not.”</p><p>Rana nodded. “I’ve seen the aftermath. It’s…not pleasant. At least the Tyranids use the dead. They have a reason, a goal, as base and twisted as it is. They killed for the sake of it. To hear people scream, and that was it. They would not hide in the dark when they could march through the hive, slaughtering.”</p><p>Kati had not looked away from the screen, humming to herself. “So what now then? Space Marine blood, and it’s not like that shows up anywhere. You get it one way.”</p><p>“You’re right.” Selora straightend up. “Rana do you think you could find me some sort of large robe or something?”</p><p>“I mean…probaly. Why?”</p><p>“I need something to wear over my armor, I still need to be subtle, but I am not going down there again with out protection. The Emperor protects, but I try to make His job as easy as possible.”</p><p>“Ahh, well, I think I can do that….Lucky day for me…” Rana said quietly. “Seems like a plan. Kati, you coming?”</p><p>“And pass up the chance to find out how someone managed to get Space Marine biologics? You must be out of your mind.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Day Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Seven</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Good. We may need you, Emperor knows what kind of weird things we might find down there.”</p><p>“Oh, I know. Could be anything down there, archotech, lost sciences, just about anything!”</p><p>“Just relax, don’t lose focus, ok?” Rana gave her a grin and turned to Selora. “Ok. How long will it take you to get armored?”</p><p>“Not that long. We must head to the Convent, inform the Cannoness what’s going on. We will then obtain the proper blessings and have our mission sanctified. Faith is a strong armor when faced with the unknown.”</p><p>“True. I’ll be bringing by personal armor though. As you said, no sense in making things hard for the Emperor, is there?”</p><p>“No, there is not. Get your gear. Our next stop is the convent.”</p><p>Rana nodded and went to her storage closet, pulling out a set of low profile but very effective armor. She also got another pistol, this one a lovely piece of work, an ancient plasma pistol given to her by her mentor in the Inquisition. It had lines of gold filigree down the sides, etchings of words of the saints and the Emperor. Holstering it with a degree of reverence, she pulled on the armor, and her coat over that, and nodded to Selora. “Lead the way.”</p><p> </p><p>The trip up to the Convent took almost as long as the transport down to the underhive, here the stops were often, and people were getting on and off, cargo was being offloaded as they winded their way up the artificial mountain that was Hive City Tarala. The streets got cleaner, and the guards became more refined, their uniforms looking more stylish than the strictly practical pieces that the ones down in the underhive. The nobles were out and visible as well, being transported by serfs and servitors, talking vapidly at each other, more than one staring at another almost hungrily.</p><p>Rana was willing to bet they were in the way for some kind of inheritance, money or power or who knows what. She idly wondered which of them, in their fits of boredom turned to the more extreme pleasures, and then more extreme, going step by step down the path to corruption and chaos, each step so slow, they barely seemed to be moving at all. More than one that Rana has given the Emperor’s Peace to had not even known what was happening. One thing just led to another one of them had said before being executed by Rana. One thing always does, Rana thought. It was always important to know where you wanted to go.</p><p>The transport turned on its rails, and Rana blinked in a bit of surprise as the windows filled with yellowish smog, a wasteland stretching out from the edges of Tarala. Some hills were even still visible, and deep canyons dug with geometric precision in an effort to extract every last resource from the planet’s surface.</p><p>“If the asteroid fields around the system weren’t so rich in resources, I expect this planet would have died a while ago.” Kati was looking out the window as well, at the deep pits that had been dug. “According to mineral records, anything worth digging up had been ages ago. Makes it a bit easier, no need to worry about making it inhospitable to mine out there. May as well be in space really!”</p><p>Rana gave a bit of a nod, and sat back again. The ground was barely visible through the fog, but it was getting clearer the higher they climbed. Colder as well, although the heaters of the transport were keeping things a bit comfortable. “How much longer until we get to the convent Sel?”</p><p>“Not too much longer. You can see the spire there…” Selora pointed, and the top of a baroque building was visible in the distance, a line of blue flickering lights visible on the top, going down and around in a somewhat fractal pattern. Selora gave a smile, and for the first time that Rana had seen, she seemed to relax. “It’s a lovely place. A touch cold perhaps, but the fire of faith keeps us warm.”</p><p>“I see…Well, glad I brought this coat as well.”</p><p>Selora glanced at Rana and gave her a bit of a frown. “Be careful. Some of my sisters are less…liberal than I am. They may take offence, and as you are my guests, your behavior is a reflection on me.”</p><p>“I see…well, I’d hate to get you in trouble, don’t worry, I’ll be good.”</p><p>Selora gave a short nod and turned to the window again. The convent was more clear now as the transport moved along on the outer surface of Tarala, the convent seemingly built right on the slopes of the artificial mountain. A slight lurch moved the cabin, as the transport began to slow. Selora got to her feet with a nod. “We are almost there. Prepare yourselves, for we are about to enter a holy place. It has been here for generations, and by the God-Emperor’s will, it will be there for many more.” Selora turned to the door leading to the hallway and opened it, walking out.</p><p>Rane gave Kati a slight look and Kati shrugged. “You’re the one who likes them tall and red haired, you cope, or move on.”</p><p>Rana grined slightly and shoved Kati lightly. “Come on Tech-priest, lets get moving. We’ve got a long way to go before the day’s over.”</p><p>They followed in the wake of Selora, the other people moving around her long strides as she walked to the exit point of the transport. Stepping out into the open, Rana was momentarily shocked by the air. It was bitterly cold, a far difference from the warmth of the lower hive, the press of bodies and the heat of the industry making it like a furnace. Her breath smoked in front of her as she pulled her coat tighter. “Holy Emperor…How far away is it?”</p><p>“Not far. You can see the path on the ground.” Selora pointed at the cobblestones, and the slightly random blueish stones that were set into the ground. “That way.”</p><p>Rana nodded and followed after her, hands dug into her pockets, wishing that she had a scarf or something. She had not been on the outer skin of Tarala in ages, and even then it was much lower down, where the thick smog heated everything. The other people here didn’t seem to notice the cold, or at least were better prepared, parting in front of the group as they walked the winding path to the Convent.</p><p>Rana was having to exert a fair bit of effort to avoid her teeth chattering by the time the arrived, the tall gates, inlaid with silver and gold, blue gemstones decoating images of the Emperor, surrounded by smaller scenes, what Rana had to assume were great moments in the chapter’s history. “Very impressive door…Do you get called away often?”</p><p>“Oh yes, we are a very strong Order, and often we are called when our skills can be put to use.” Selora walked to the doors, and approached the fully armored women standing in front of it. Both of them were tall and standing at attention, their bolter rifles held in ready. Their armor was colored blue and black, with white accents going around the paldrons, looking almost like snow at night, all dark curves and specks of white. Selora stood to attention, giving the sign of the Aquilla, bowing her head as her hands crossed over her chest. “I have returned with grave news. Is the Cannones here?”</p><p>The woman on the left gave a curt nod, her voice sounding a bit mechanical through the vox transmitter in her helmet. “She is. Enter.”</p><p>The other Sister turned to look at Selora. “Where’s your dress? The color looked good on you.”</p><p>Selora gave a short laugh as her hands dropped back to her side as she gave her a glare. “It was sold to buy this, and some proper shoes. You have never tried to walk in those damned heels. I almost broke an ankle. Now open the door Leciti, I feel my friends may not be used to the chill.”</p><p>Leciti laughed and stood back. “Enter then Sister, The Blue Rose always flowers.”</p><p>“No matter the soil.” Selora said, and walked through the opening doors, Rana and Kati trailing after her.</p><p>Rana walked into the entrance hall, looking up at the interior. She had never been to this particular convent, but it seemed that they had never wanted for resources. The walls were covered in paintings and statues, a wide row of pews facing a lectern going up the center. The walls seemed to glimmer with blue light, soft lumens worked into the stone so that glowing ice seemed to move up the columns.  “Very pretty…It’s quite remarkable. I’m sorry I have never seen it before.”</p><p>“After all of this, I can give you a proper tour, it is quite wonderful to behold. But for now, we must make haste.” Her pace quickend, and Rana and Kati had to follow quickly behind. The noise of battle seemed to be going on outside, and from a glance through the passing windows, Rana could see fully armored sisters in formation, doing drills, weapons flashing as they dueled and trained. The hallway took a turn and headed up stairs, leading to a simple wooden door. Selora paused before it taking a breath and knocking politely.</p><p>“Didn’t knock that nicely on my door…” Rana muttered to herself, and smiled slightly as Selora looked back at her for a moment, before a voice came from behind the door.</p><p>“Enter.”</p><p>Selora took another breath and opened the door, walking into a large chamber. Bookcases lined the walls, and above those, weapons hung. There was a small fireplace in the corner, but the woman who had spoken was almost ignore it. She was dressed in robes, reading a dataslate as they walked in, Selora standing in front of the desk at attention. “Canoness Kato. I return with a worrying report. This is Inquisitor Rana Bellhouse, and Tech-priest Kati. They have been very helpful in this investigation.”</p><p>Canoness Kato nodded. “What is your report then? We must find out what happened.”</p><p>“We have possibly identified the bolter shell. It looks like one made almost ten millennium ago. We also discovered evidence that an Adeptus Astartes was present, or at least one with similar biological modifications. The current theory is that whoever that person was, they killed Father Meyer. They may have been trying to defend him. But we are not sure. We are about to head deeper into the underhive, but before then, I wish to retrieve my arms and armor, and receive a blessing that the God-Emperor may guide our steps and find out what happened.”</p><p>Canoness Kato nodded again and stood up. She was on the short side, and a bit old, but her movements were still smooth, and Rana was sure that there was more than one person who underestimated her to their own peril. She walked around the desk and put a hand on Selora’s shoulder. “I agree to this. You will be armed and armored, and you will walk with the Emperor. But be careful Selora. We all lost important people when we were defending that world from the Xenos. The Tyranids are at the heart of this I can feel it. Do not let them surprise you.” Canoness Kato dropped her hand and put them behind her back, standing upright again, the moment of softness gone. “Now Sister. Go to the armorer and prepare. When you are done, go to the chapel. You will receive the blessing of the Emperor.” Kato turned to Rana and Kati. “You two, follow me, we head to the chapel to wait for Sister Selora to be ready.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Day Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Eight</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kato lead the way out of the doorway, down the stairs, taking another turnoff. This hallway was more stylish, more gilt and decorations on the walls, and still the soft blue lights surrounding them in a sparkle.</p><p>“What are these lumens? They seem to be very efficient, and well made. How did you get them?” Kati was looking closely at the wall as they walked, their footsteps echoing down the hall.</p><p>“We did not make them. I will show you in the Chapel, it is…much more impressive there.” The hallway widened as they progressed, a slow ramp turning into a stairway, the sides opening to a large room, several hallways seem to be leading to another door, this one much more grand, gold works pressed into the thick wood. The two servitor by the door slowly opened it as the Canoness approached and lead them inside.</p><p>“Emperor above…” Rana breathed out, looking around the room. The walls, celling, even the floor seemed to be in fire, a blueish flame crawling over near everything. “This is…beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. How does it work? A kind of projector or…something?”</p><p>Kato shook her head as she walked down the main path, past rows of pews, towards the altar, where behind it several sisters were working, cleaning and maintain the interior. “It’s nothing so…crude.” She took off one of her gloves, and gently ran her hand across the stone, brushing her fingers against the glowing veins of fire. She held up her hand to the two outsiders, and a faint glow was on her fingertips. “A last bit of the world. Something that remains, our namesake. This is Blue Rose, it’s a bioluminescent moss, or lichen or something along those lines. We discovered it a long time ago, during a campaign. We were caught, trapped in a canyon on a distant planet. We had managed to fall back into a cave, and we were prepared to take as many of the enemy as we could with us and stand before our God-Emperor by the end of the day. We took up positions, and as we waited, one sister noticed the glow. Faint, but there, lines of delicate blue.”</p><p>The canoness looked at her fingers again, the gently glow starting to fade from her fingertips. “It was a miracle. While it has not been officially recognized by the Ecclesiarchy, they said they needed more evidence, we know what it was. The light of the Emperor, showing us the way. We followed the glow through the caves. A sister set up explosives inside of the tunnel, and when we had found the path through the earth and out to the other side, we collapsed it, killing a multitude of the Emperor’s foes. We brought back a small sample of the glowing lichen, and brought it back here, where it flourished. Thus, We were renamed, the Blue Rose, the light of the Emperor in the darkest places in the world.”</p><p>Rana gave a nod as she looked around the room. It was a sight she would not forget for a long time, the gentle glow of blue all around her, the soft music just audible. “How much longer will it be for Selora?”</p><p>“Not too much longer. Take a seat and observe. Normally this ceremony takes much longer, but I do understand that time is a factor. So we will go quickly.” She turned to one of the sisters who was cleaning and gestured. “Give this to the Armorer.” The sister took the slip of paper and nodded, moving quickly out a side door. She pointed to another sister, “And you, I need consecrated oil, retrieve the servitor that is needed for sanctification, and do it quickly.” Another nod and the girl ran off in another direction.</p><p>“This is going to be very very fast.” She gave a bit of a smile to Rana. “We might even set a record.”</p><p>“The Emperor protects, length is not important, only faith.”</p><p>“Well spoken Inquisitor. And now you are going with Sister Selora down into the pits to weed out something that may cause someone like you to declare that the planet should be scrubbed clean with fire. Can never be too careful after all.”</p><p>Rana’s face was carefully neutral, she had the feeling she was being tested at this moment, and was a bit nervous. She was a servant of the Emperor, but the Sisters of Battle were the Emperor’s Sword, their faith shielded them from demons and chaos when others would fall to the ground gibbering in madness. “Yes. You can’t be too careful. An innocent life lost in the death of a heretic is a tragedy, but they will stand by the side of the Emperor. I would not want to destroy the planet however.” Rana looked the Canoness in the eyes carefully holding steady. “But I would if it had to be done. That is my burden, to weigh and count costs and do what must be done, regardless of the opinions others have of me.”</p><p>Kato gave her a small smile and nodded, “Indeed. Ours is a difficult path to walk.” Their conversation was interrupted by a clattering, as one of the Sisters was returning, a clattering servitor following behind as she brought several bottles and jars to the altar, setting them out.</p><p>“Good. Now stand at your position, we must do this properly, as best as we can, in any case. Ah, good.” The first girl had just arrived, a large ornate case carried in her arms, she struggled under the weight, and as she set it down on the stone altar, it gave a thump that revealed it’s weight.</p><p>“What’s in that?” Rana said, eyeing the case. It looked like it might be a weapon case, but normally they were utilitarian, this one looked like it belonged in an art gallery.</p><p>“A final blessing for Sister Selora. Now silence, and watch. We begin soon.”</p><p>Canoness Kato stood straight up, looking back through the gently glowing and sparkling chapel, as she waited to hear the footsteps of Selora.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Day Nine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Nine</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The silence of the chapel was broken by the sound of metallic footsteps from outside, which marched to the doorway, and then stopped, before the doorway opened. Selora stood in the doorway, fully armored, and she walked down the aisle towards the altar. Rana could hear the very faint noises of her armor as she passed by, the whir of servos that powered her movements. Her helmet was mag-locked to her belt and she walked up in front of the altar and stood at attention, as the Canoness stood and watched.</p><p>After a moment’s pause, Kato raised a hand and looked over the two observers. “We know why we are here and what our goal is. We know what some of the dangers are, and there are some we can not predict. Now, Sister Selora.” Kato walked around the alter to stand in front of her, the two assistants going by her side. Kato took the bottle, and gently dripped a few drops of oil on her fingers. “In the Emperor’s name, go forth and pull out this heresy by the root. We are under attack by a subtle and dangerous enemy.” Her fingertips ran across Selora’s forehead, and down her cheeks.</p><p>“But I do not fear.” Selora said, her voice speaking clearly. “I trust in the Emperor’s guidance, and will not falter before him. Without him, I cannot succeed. With him, I cannot fail.”</p><p>What looked like a larger, roughly made paintbrush was taken from the other girl and dipped in a container. Ash Dust trailed from it as Selora looked up, eyes closed as Kato held it above her head. “We are the Blue Rose. We bring light to the darkest corners of the Imperium. For where there is light…”</p><p>“He is there.” Selora said, as ash sprinkled down onto her face, sticking to the oil.</p><p>“The Emperor protects Sister Selora. But we do not make it hard for him. There is one last thing to give you, to aid you on your mission.” Kato motioned to the sisters standing by her, and they quickly went to retrieve the case, both of them carrying it between them. “A good and noble sister died by the Tyranid hordes. She was our sister, and our friend. This was hers, and now, by the grace of the God-Emperor, it is yours.” Kato opened the case, revealing a large weapon.</p><p>Rana’s eyes slightly widened at this reveal, and she could see Kati shift trying to get a good look. The weapon in the box was large and well maintained, the gold accents on it sparkeling under the blue lights. She didn’t recognize it, but Kati did, a breath hissing in as she saw it, her tendrils trying to get a better look at it.</p><p>Selora’s eyes widened as she saw the weapon and she looked at Kato, her voice breaking slightly with emotion. “I…Thank you Canoness Kato. I will bring her memory honor. She stands at the side of the Emperor, and I will make both of them proud.”</p><p>“I know you will. Now take your weapon sister. Time grows short, and we must move. Take the weapon and  go forth. Return victorious.”</p><p>“I will. The Emperor Protects.”</p><p>“And we will bring his light to the darkness.”</p><p>Selora picked up the weapon, and gave a bow to Kato. “With your leave Canoness.”</p><p>“Go. Your remaining supplies are outside. Good luck, and be careful.”</p><p>“I will. Thank you.” Selora said and turned to Rana and Kati with a nod. “Let’s go.”</p><p>They stood up and Rana gave a nod. “Lead the way, we’ll be right behind you.” Looking back at Kato, Rana gave another nod and Kato returned it. With that, the three of them turned to the door and headed out of the chapel. A large military satchel was on a table by the doorway, sitting next to a worn and battle-ready chainsword. Rana picked it up with a smile, and holstered it in it’s sheath. “Right. We are armed, and we have a mission. To the transport, but we will need some sort of robe or covering if we’re going to try to keep a bit subtle.”</p><p>“That we should do. I have to admit, your armor is very…impressive. It will attract attention, I can assure you.” Rana gave Selora another look and gave her a smile.  “But that’s easy. Lots of places to buy clothing. We’ll get in the transport and get a move on. And on the trip down you can tell us about that very impressive weapon, deal?”</p><p>Selora gave a smile back, looking comfortable for the first time that Rana had seen. “As long as you can get us more of those noodles. They were quite good.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Day Ten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Ten</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rana gave a laugh and nodded. “It’s a deal. Lets get on the transport quickly then, you have a heater in that suit, but I’m still freezing.”</p><p>“I thought Inquisitors were made of sterner stuff than that?”</p><p>Rana gave Selora a look. “You know you’ve gotten a bit more talkative now that you’re out of those clothes. You must’ve really hated those things.”</p><p>“Emperor above, you have no idea.” The three of them climbed on board the transport for the lower hive, people clearing away even faster than before, and retired to another small cabin.</p><p>Kati, hummed excitedly as they sat down, her tendrils twitching slightly. “So, what is that weapon you have? I’ve seen similar makes in the archives, but not in person, most of what we do is the standard Imperial Army issue, they don’t have things like that.”</p><p>Selora nodded and ran a hand over the weapon on her lap. “This is…well, to be accurate it is a Godwyn-De'az pattern bolter, with an integrated flamer. Useful for close combat when you have to attack a large number of weaker targets, and for distraction. Few enemies of the Emperor can ignore a gout of flame enveloping them.”</p><p>“It’s very impressive.” Rana said, looking at the delicate filigree work. “Your Canoness said it belonged to someone else before you?”</p><p>“Yes…That’s common, these weapons are the symbol of the Emperor’s wrath, and they are given from sister to sister. This one belonged to Sister Reyen Ishine. She was my commanding officer, and my friend. She was my mentor in my training. She fell in battle, holding the line for Civilians to evacuate from the Tyranid attack. She saved a great many lives and make sure the enemy paid dearly for their attack.”</p><p>“And she fell?”</p><p>Selora paused, looking down at the gun, running her fingers over a set of deep scratches in the grip of the gun. “Yes. She fell, stabbing one of those beasts in the eye as it tore at her. It actually backed off for a moment after that, but it was too late. We recovered her body before they could drag her off, but were unable to save her life. But she died doing her duty. She stands before the Emperor without shame.”</p><p>“She sounds like a very noble and good person. I’m sorry for your loss.”</p><p>Selora shrugged and placed the gun next to her, pulling up the large satchel. “It was some time ago. All I have to be sorry about now is if I fail to make her proud. Lets see what else we have…Some grenades, extra ammo, Auspex. Kati, do you want to use that? I imagine you’d be best at it.”</p><p>Kati nodded, one of her tendrils snaking forward and plucking the scanning device from Selora’s hands. “Thanks! I’ll keep an eye on this, make sure we’re not getting surrounded. But down in the underhive, well, it’s not like traveling across a desert. We will have a lot of signals that may conflict.”</p><p>“That’s why you’ve got it, use your close connection with the Omnissiah and convince the machine spirit to be nice to us.”</p><p>Kati gave another shrug and began to murmur over the hand-held device, moving a hand over it, and every now and then dabbing bits of oil on the corners.</p><p>“Right, so what exactly is the plan? We have a lot of questions and not a lot of leads.” Selora said, holding up her chainsword, checking the mechanism and the sharpness of the teeth.</p><p>“Well, we have a starting point. Where he got killed. We do the boring part of Inquisitor work. Walk and talk and observe. There are people down there who see everything, the trick is getting them to talk. The Mission down there seemed well liked, there has to be someone who would tell us something.”</p><p>“What about the mystery gunman?”</p><p>“That as well. There may be more leads on that, someone who has that level of firepower is going to be noticed, whether they like it or not. And if they somehow, Emperor knows how, got ahold of some form of Astartes biomods? Something like that is impossible to hide. It’s why I’m worried that’s not what happened. Someone with access to that level of tech would be the richest and most powerful person in the underhive. Not to mention the Inquisiton should have known if a level of heresy that high had occurred.”</p><p>Kati looked up from the auspex. “Agreed. Those biological secrets are some of the most carefully guarded things in the Imperium. You don’t just…stumble across them.”</p><p>Rana sighed and slid further down in her seat. “I have the very bad feeling that this mystery gunner is going to be a very big problem.”</p><p>“One thing at a time, right? We need information, data is the building block of success.”</p><p>“And we need a disguise or some sort of covering for me.”</p><p>Rana nodded. “Don’t worry, that’ll be easy. I’ll have someone waiting at the next stop with an extra large robe. Should fit you without too much problem. Then we just walk in like we own the place, ask some questions, and get some leads. We need some subtly, but we also need to act fast. It’s hard to outrun rumor, but it can be done.”</p><p>Selora sat back in her seat with a sigh. “This is going to be a long day I think.”</p><p>Rana laughed and patted Selora’s leg. “It’s cute you think it’s going to only take a day.”</p><p>“Fine, a long week.”</p><p>“Still cute. But we do have to move fast. I’m worried the instant the genestealers figure out we’re onto them, any timetables they have are gonna be accelerated.”</p><p>“Agreed. So lets get some rest as best we can on the trip down. We’re gonna be drinking a lot of Recaf.”</p><p>“That we are.” And with that Rana shut her eyes, trying to shut out the noise around her and get some sleep, whatever she could eke out on the rocking trembling train.</p><p> </p><p>Five hours later, the transport gave another screech of breaks, and Rana watched out the window as the landscape, such as you could call a mess of buildings grown up like an anthill, slowed to a stop. She got to her feet and stretched, feeling her back give little cracks. “Ok, up an at’em people. Lets get to work.”</p><p>Selora stood up as well, the brown rough cloth draped over her armor. It looked…odd. At least, Rana thought, no one would think she was hiding the armor of a sister of battle under there. Probaly assume she was a mutant of some sort, or a overgrown ganger who had taken a few too many combat drugs. And Kati was odd enough that people would ignore her, Tech-priests lived in their own world most of the time in any case, and no ganger wanted to interrupt one of them trying to fix a power condit. After all, who knew if that power cable would help them one day. And herself, she looked non-descript, what she always tried to look like. All in all, Rana felt a bit of confidence in this. Provided they didn’t drop into a trap of some sort, this should work out.</p><p>The trio headed off the transport and down the now slightly familiar corridor. The bright lights of the mission were visible as they walked down the roadway, the buildup of smaller buildings around them. Rana glanced at the mission and nodded slightly, giving a quick prayer to the Emperor. There were a lot of people on  Tarala, and if they didn’t get this done quicky and quietly, this could all blow up in their faces.</p><p>The alley where the priest had been found passed by them on the left and Rana began to look around in earnest. Her eyes sweeping the people  on the sides of the roads, giving them idle glances as they looked away, keeping to themselves. Getting people to open up was always the hard part, the fear of the gangers was always more immediate than the threat of the Inquisition. The poor and downtrodden were more concerned with getting food by the end of the day, not that in a few months the Inquisition would show up and arrest them. They could be dead from overwork in a week, a few months may have been a thousand years.</p><p>A dim building, with a string of probaly stolen lumens above the door had light coming from inside, as well as noisy conversation. A bar of some sort most like, down here people would distill damn near anything to keep pain at bay, but it was a good place to start. Buying drinks for people got them happy and talkative. A simple trick, but simple ones were the best sometimes. And it had the added bonus of them not remembering what they talked about when they woke up. Rana walked up to the door, glancing at Selora. “Stay calm. Let me do the talking, and we may figure out what we need.” Selora gave a curt nod and straighted herself up, following Rana as she walked into the smokey din.</p><p>The bar was just what she expected. The smell of bad booze and bodily fluids hit her like a chemical weapon, her eyes watering slightly as she walked inside, taking in the room. The conversation slowed for a moment, and then picked back up, the people here had more important things to worry about than three strange women who walked in, one of which was obviously a Tech-priest. Rana walked to the bar, motioning Selora and Kati to take a seat at a table. She walked up to the bar and placed a few coins on the scared bartop. The bartender, a old large man with a creaky augmentic arm looked down at the money and back up at Rana.</p><p>“Well? What do you want?”</p><p>“Drink. Three of em. We’re also looking for someone.”</p><p>“Mmm…Drinks here. I dunno many people though.”</p><p>Rana gave a bit of a sigh and placed another coin on the table. “You sure?”</p><p>“Not as sure. What are you looking for?”</p><p>“Gang leader. Has some heavy hardware, thought he could use a hand, my crew is in the market for a new boss.”</p><p>The bartender looked over at Selora and Kati and raised an eyebrow. “Really. Well, I do know a few people who may be interested. Tech-priest gone rogue, is that it?”</p><p>“Dunno. I didn’t ask her life story.”</p><p>“That’s fair. Have a seat, We’ll see if anyone bites your tempting offer.” The bartender scooped off the coins with remarkable speed and abled to the back room, divided from the masses by a grubby curtain as Rana returned to the table and sat down.</p><p>“Did you just hire us out as mercenaries?” Selora hissed, looking around the room with a furious distaste. “That is completely unforgiveable! I am not some rank and line soldier for you to do with what you will!”</p><p>“First, yes you are. You forget who I am Sister. Second, relax. We’re not going to do anything, this is just getting us kicked up the ladder to someone who may actually know something.” Rana sat back as Selora fumed and gave a sigh. And things were going well, this may well set her back to zero with her. “I’d never ask you to do something against your code, you’ve trusted me this far, haven’t you?”</p><p>“I have…And you’re right. You know what you’re doing.” Selora’s grim look didn’t change however, and when the bartender came back with three glasses and a barmat, which he set on the table with every sign of ceremony, she didn’t pick up the drink.</p><p>“Normally I’d say you should drink to keep up appearances, but from the smell, I’d suggest against it.”</p><p>Kati nodded, picking up her drink and sniffing it. “Agreed. There are high quanties of wood alcohol in this, along with other hazardous chemicals. It’s a wonder that more people are not dead from this.”</p><p>“Oh, they are…We just don’t notice.” Rana shifted the drinks off the mat and lifted it up slightly, pulling out a piece of paper. Looking at it quickly, she folded it up and tucked it away. “We have a meeting. Lets go, unless you need to refuel your flamer with this horrible stuff.”</p><p>“I would suggest against that, this is not refined enough to use without risking damage to your weapon.” Kati said, one of her tendrils dipped inside of the glass, stirring it gently.</p><p>Rana rolled her eyes slightly and stood up, moving to the door. “Lets go, it doesn’t do to keep these type of people waiting.”</p><p>“Where are we going?” Selora followed behind, her robe not disguising the metal clank of her boots on the ground.</p><p>“According to the note, down here, a left then a right, look for the sign marked “No entrance” and knock twice.”</p><p>“That…is very strange.”</p><p>“I know. Someone’s seen too many piccasts.” Rana took the second turn and looked around, the beaten up sign that said No Entrance just visible next to a door that looked as though it hadn’t been opened in decades. Giving a bit of a shrug, Rana knocked twice and waited.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Day Eleven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Eleven</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The door opened silently on well oiled hinges and revealed a dimly lit corridor. Standing in the doorway was a man with a grin on his face and wearing what could only be described as armor, as it was made of metal and hanging on his body. He leered at Rana, and gave a laugh. “Boss’ll like you lot. Come on. Lets see how long you last.” He gave a theateratical wave and pointed them down the hall, closing the door behind them as they entered. “Keep on going, you’ll know when to stop, don’t try anything or the rats will have some more to eat, get it?”<br/>Rana gave a nod, and walked on down the hall, glancing up at the cameras overlooking them. “Lot of security. Must be someone who’s a bit of a player.”<br/>Selora gave a bit of a nod, still keeping quiet as she wrapped the rough brown cloak around her, eyes narrowing as she walked down the hall. The hallway gave a turn, and a door was at the end of it, this one looking much more fashionable and ornate. Rana approached, intending to knock when it swung open as she raised her hand, a humorless guard standing in front of her.<br/>“Ah. Right. We were expected, I believe.”<br/>The guard gave a nod, and moved to the side, leading into a well appointed room, with carpeting and a desk, behind which sat a man in colorful robes, eyeing the three of them carefully. <br/>“You were. A bit of an odd message, but intresting if true. A rebelling tech-priest, that’s something you don’t see every day. Did your Magos not allow you to express yourself fully?” He gave another grin and waved his hand.  “It doesn’t matter. You are always useful, and who are you then, her minder?”<br/>“She’s part of my crew. We’re all useful, and we’re looking for some information. We’re willing to work for it as well.”<br/>“Oh, is that all? Well, information is very valuable. What kind of information are you looking for?”<br/>“Someone is running around with very big weapons, and some very unusual body mods. We’re trying to find them.”<br/>The man behind the desk’s face went carefully blank. “I see. Unusual. There are rumors to be sure, but it would be expensive…And well, I am suspicious. Three people I don’t know come in asking for things…makes me wonder. But that’s alright, I have a simple solution.” A suddent explosion erupted from the desk, a panel on the front vanishing in shards as the shotgun blast took Selora full in the chest, knocking her backwards to the ground. <br/>“I make the people learn some respect. Now here is what is going to happen. You tell me who you are, and we won’t have any more problems. I’ll even let you drag your friend out of here and won’t feed her to the rats. If you answer correctly. Now…Who feels like…” His voice trailed off as Selora let out a grunt and rolled to her feet, glaring at him. “Rana. Do I have permission to be loud?” <br/>“Oh yes, but leave him, I’ll have questions.”<br/>Selora grinned and reached under her robes, pulling out here chainsword, which roared to life. The bodyguards were momentarily stunned by the dead woman getting back to her feet, which was their downfall. The whirring blade roared as she brought it up, a spray of blood and bone coming from it as it swiped to the side, entering on the side of his chest, and tearing across, the guard letting out a shrek of pain the was cut off as he went limp and fell to the ground, blood pooling around him. The other guard broke out of his shock and pulled his own weapon, leveling it at Selora and began to fire, the stubber rounds impacting her armor and plinking away, shards of brass and copper shells falling to the floor. Selora was unphased by this weak weapon and dashed forward, her blade swinging across, carefully and elegantly lopping the man’s head off. It bounced on the floor as he collapsed, blood spreading from him, the floor soaked in it. Selora reved her chainsword again, and sheathed it, turning to Rana. <br/>“I allowed the second to get a shot on me. Very foolish. I will do better next time.”<br/>“Don’t worry, you did great. Very…impressive.” Rana gave her a smile and then turned to the man behind the desk, who’s eyes were wide, and face was splattered with blood. “As for you…well, guess who’s going to tell us a lot more than they expected?”<br/>“I…I don’t…want any trouble…who are you people?” <br/>“Oh, and now you ask. Well, that’s not important. If we told you that we’d have to kill you! And you haven’t told us what we need to know. So. This person who has some sort of heavy weapons and odd biolocial modifications. What do you know?”<br/>“Nothing! Nothing concrete! There’s rumors of a big gang leader down deeper in the hive, very violent, doesn’t take anyone intruding on his terority. But some of the little people talk about him like he’s the Emperor returned, protecthing them, making sure they’re safe. Bunch of crazy talk if you ask me, some people will worship at the feet of the boot on their neck.”<br/>“And where is this mysterious gang leader?” Rana said, leaning over the desk. <br/>“I don’t know! I swear, he’s down deeper, around….level 57 I think, Quad C-Alpha 43 last I heard, but that’s just rumors!”<br/>“You say he’s protecting people?” Rana stood back up, wiping the blood off her gloves.<br/>“I think, but who knows what the truth is, you get deep enough in the hive, Emperor knows what you’ll find.”<br/>“Alright. If he’s protecting people, that means someone may know, or at the very least he will have enemies. Lets go girls.” Rana nodded at Selora and Kati, who currently was elevating herself slightly off the ground, supported by her tendrils. “And what are you doing?”<br/>“I don’t want to get blood on my robes. It takes effort to clean them to the proper standards afterwards.”<br/>“I…suppose. Lets go. And as for you…You tell anyone, we’ll know and we’ll be back. And we’ll be unhappy, got it?”<br/>“I…yes! I get it! I won’t tell anyone!” The man was cowering behind the desk now, not sure what was going to happen next. <br/>“Good! See ya. We may be back.” Rana turned from him and walked out the door, down the hall. “You ok there Selora? What’d he hit you with?”<br/>“Oh, soft metal shot. Didn’t even leave a scratch, but it did nick some of the paint. Have to fix that later.”<br/>“Lucky it missed your head.”<br/>“The Emperor protects Rana.”<br/>Rana gave another idle nod as they approached the door. It was ajar, the doorman had apparently heard the fighting and decided to seek better employment.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Day Twelve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Twelve</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It wasn’t a total loss though, We got a lead, even if it was vague. The fact that some people seem to be fans of whoever this is will help. People talk more about people they like than ones they’re scared of.”</p><p>“I don’t suppose you know where that quadrant is? I’ve barely been down this far, much less deeper.”</p><p>“I’m not sure, Kati, how are your maps of the Hive?”</p><p>Kati gave another shrug, her eyes clicking. “Maps of the underdrive are never reliable. The collapses of upper areas and the general decay make it a losing battle at best. I can get access to the last survey, but that was more than a century ago. It may get us in the right general area, but beyond that…I don’t know.”</p><p>“Well that’s something. How soon can you get diagrams?”</p><p>“Right away, I can download them from the network remotely.” Kati gave a data slate she pulled from some recess in her robes and give it a wave. “The Omnissiah’s mysteries can be read by those who know how.”</p><p>“Great. So which way?” Rana began walking down the street, trying to get back on what could be considered a main pathway.</p><p>“This way will work for now. It is a bit of distance, but not so far we need to acquire transport. Provided, of course, there has not been extensive changes to the terrain in the past 100 years.”</p><p>“Right, well, lead the way. We’re right behind you.” Rana gave Kati a nod and fell into step behind her, with Selora next to her.</p><p>“Have to say, that was an impressive piece of bladework. How’d you know which one to go after first?”</p><p>“The one on the left was twitchy. Some sort of chem user, which may make you stronger, but messes with reaction times. He also had his weapon held in a more flashy way. Impressive, but not as useful. He could wait for the second strike. I am still upset that I was shot by his holdout weapon, I should’ve been prepared for treachery.”</p><p>“Oh, same. I thought that his greed would override his ego, but sadly, no. Had to come in trying to flex, and well, then you happened. All over the room, heh, I don’t think that rug is going to be worth much now.”</p><p>Selora gave a laugh and grinned, looking down at Rana. “No, but that’s his fault. Good steel plating cleans off much easier. That stylish and unessary level of décor just goes to prove that you would care if someone bleeds over your floor.”</p><p>“Very true. You bring someone in a comfortable room, they start thinking they may get out of this. You have them sit in an empty rockcrete cell with a drain in the center of the floor? They get a lot more talkative. I barely have to do anything at all!”</p><p>“That is nice, when they confess for you. Much simpler and saves time.”</p><p>The tunnel had gotten more dimly lit, and with a rush of air, opened up into a huge dark cavern. The solid floor shifted to a metal grating, the remains of the covers still visible in some places, but rusted through in others. Looking over the edge of it, Rana could see lights below, some moving along what she had to assume were more platforms leading to entryways that looked to be on fire, a bright glow emerging from them. There was a dripping wetness coming from up above, which Rana had to vaguely hope was just water.</p><p>“Disgusting place…Emperor knows what this stuff is, and what the people down here are doing. I’ve heard tell on one hive, the workers went in to their job every day for years, decades even. Making things, sending them off. It got dumped in the outgoing shipment, but because of errors in shipment, it got sent to the recycling plant, and was then broken down into raw ingredients. Which was then made into the same thing. Over and over again, some weird bureaucratic nightmare.”</p><p>“Ugh…That sounds awful. We can dodge some of that red tape, it takes a very bold adminstratum drone to tell a Canoness no.”</p><p>“Same, heh, the Inquisition gets what it wants. Most of the time anyway.” Rana gave Selora another glance. “Some things are a bit harder to ask for. People tend to respond with a bit of apprehension when a Inquisitor asks you for something.”</p><p>“I know that. People think that Sisters are unbending and uncaring. You know some even think we take vows of chastity?”</p><p>“Really! I am surprised at that. Seems like it would be a bit…awkward to bring up.”</p><p>“The Navy likes to play cards, and overindulge in the drink. They get talkative.”</p><p>Rana gave another laugh and looked up ahead. The clanking of the walkway was echoing from below them, the sparse lumens giving them brief moments of light between the dripping darkness. “Kati, how are we doing?”</p><p>“Better than you. But not bad, across this, maybe another fifteen minutes and we’ll be around the proper area. At least close enough to get some intel.”</p><p>Selora looked a bit confused, and glanced at Rana. “Better than what?”</p><p>“Nothing she’s just being funny. Just be ready, both of you, we don’t know what we’re gonna find, or how happy they could be to see us.” Rana ran a hand over her two pistols, and checked them again. The dim light seemed to go on for ages, the flickering lights making things almost more grim than if it had just been talk. Flaming barrels were scattered around the sides, people huddled near them, glancing at the three of them and then quickly looking back at the fire, trying to not attract attention.</p><p>“People are very skittish…” Kati said, auspex held up, glancing at it every few meters. “Lots of people that are staying out of sight.”</p><p>“Armed?” Rana quietly said, looking from side to side casually. If they charged them, she had no illusions about their chances. A rock applied in the right place can kill a starship, and there were many nameless graves of people who thought their technology would make them invincible.</p><p>“Some…stubbers and blades seems like. They seem to be keeping their distance though.”</p><p>“Well, keep us posted…If we have to fight…It’s going to be rough.”</p><p>Selora glanced around the hall, but paused for a moment, her eyes landing on a piece of graffiti sprayed on the wall. “Wait.” The wall was filthy, the original colors only noticeable where something had scraped against it, the grey rockcrete visible. The noticeable feature however, was the large red piece of painting that had been done. It seemed to be a skull, with wings on the sides, and a sword plunged into the top. At least that was what it seemed to be. Whoever had painted this was not very good at art. She ran a gloved finger over the paint, a layer of grime coming up. “Old…You recognize this?”</p><p>Kati skittered over, her eyes clicking over the symbol. “Well, It seems to be the symbol of Adeptus Astartes. Poorly painted, but that’s the most likely. No chapter designation, unless you could the red, but a number of Astartes chapters use red as a primary color.”</p><p>Rana nodded. “Yah. Haven’t seen this painted around in the upper levels. Must be getting close. Keep an eye out for some level of civilization. These people must sleep and gather somewhere.”</p><p>Kati nodded as she moved from the wall, and back down the tunnel. Rana glanced back at the wall, and back to Selora. “That should make me feel more comforted, but I’ll be honest, It makes me more nervous. Have you heard of any Space Marines in the area?”</p><p>“No, not at all. They don’t come here, this place is…well, boring. At least for them, all the stuff here is low end, unless we get invaded at some point, they have no reason to ever visit.”</p><p>“Think they could have just heard rumors? Stories get around. Emperor knows I’ve heard stories about the Sisters.”</p><p>“I mean it’s possible. But that seems recent. And I’ve not seen a single symbol of the Emperor down here yet. A Space Marine without the Emperor…that just doesn’t mesh.”</p><p>“Well, there’s one way…”</p><p>Selora gave a sigh. “I know, but if that’s what’s going on…one problem at a time. That is something we can’t call the alert for unless we’re completely sure.”</p><p>“Suppose so. Any sign yet Kati?”</p><p>“Got a large signal up ahead, could be something, or just a mess of vermin.” Their path took them farther into the tunnels, which began to lighten, the lights above getting more steady as they walked even the grime on the walls getting less. It wasn’t clean by any stretch, but it was somewhat less filthy. The lights of some sort of gathering were visible, an offshoot tunnel having light coming from it. There was more noise from it as well, and as they turned, they saw large gates, open with two people standing in front of them. They seemed fairly alert, more so than the other people they had seen yet, and Rana took the lead, moving towards them.</p><p>They held out a hand as they got closer, and gave a nod. “State your business please.”</p><p>Rana cleared her throat, looking back at Kati and Selora. “Looking for work, and to talk with your boss.” The guard looked at them with a slow nod. “First part, we can do. Always more work that needs done. Second may be tricker. He’s a busy man. Why would he want to talk with you?”</p><p>“Tell him we found his spent shell, and would like to talk to him about it. Can you do that?”</p><p>“Spent shell? We can send word, but no guarantee he’ll be able to see you. How bout you head to the bar for now, work can be found there, and we’ll know where to find you.”</p><p>Rana gave another nod. “Much obliged. Down there?” she pointed down the, for lack of a better term, town entrance and the guard nodded. “Can’t miss it.”</p><p>Rana gave another nod, and walked in, trailed by Selora and Kati. Selora stepped closer, and leaned over. “Are we doing the same thing again?”</p><p>“No, the shell will get his attention. Public place, best option. We don’t come in guns blazing, we just want to talk.”</p><p>“If you say so…this is your area of expertise.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Day Thirteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Thirteen</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“This place looks…calm. It’s not a pit of gangers, it’s almost quiet. Look at the guards. Professional, doing their jobs. None of the swagger that gangers have, it’s all business. It’s very strange, the places I’ve been down to before are much more wild, the kind of place where if you got beat up and robbed, people would place bets on the fight, not help.”</p><p>“I can see what you mean. People seem less guarded, less on edge.”</p><p>Rana signed and checked her weapon again. “This…boss is going to be interesting. I just hope we didn’t walk into a trap.”</p><p>“Have faith Rana.”</p><p>“Faith I have, but I also know how people work. And this place makes me very nervous.”</p><p>The doorway to the bar was open, and inside was oddly warm, the people there were quietly talking and enjoying themselves, Rana could even hear music from a voxcaster in the corner. If she didn’t know better she would have throught that she had arrived at any number of bars on the higher levels. It was eerie how normal everything looked. A table was open against a wall, so they went to have a seat, looking over the room.</p><p>“They haven’t even given us a second glance…” Selora whispered to Rana. “It’s like they don’t care we’re here or something.”</p><p>“I know…Let me get some drinks and try to blend in. Back in a moment.” The path to the bar was uneventful, and the bartender even kept his glasses clean, or at least cleaner than in a majority of other bars she had been in. Three glasses of the local booze were ordered and brought out, Rana giving the bartender a nod as she carried the glasses back to the table. “Ok, now I’m completely expecting them to eat our skin or something. They are far to nice.”</p><p>“And the drink is also of high quality. Prelim tests say it’s safe for consumption, or as save as alcohol can be. It won’t make you go blind at any rate.” Kati lifted up the glass giving it a sniff. “Nice bouquet as well. This wasn’t distilled from rats, I can tell you that for sure.”</p><p>Rana looked down at the drink and gave it a cautious taste. “Not…bad. I mean, it’s straight amasec, a bit raw, but I’ve had worse.”</p><p>“I think I’d be more comforted if it was barely drinkable rotgut.” Selora looked up as a pair of men approached the table.</p><p>“You maybe, but we would prefer being able to see. You’re the visitors I assume?”</p><p>Rana looked up at him from the table and gave a nod. “Are you the boss?”</p><p>“No, the boss is very busy and he’s also under attack from a lot of sides. He doesn’t come when someone calls.”</p><p>“That’s too bad. We have important things to discuss with him, not limited to some odd things we found. Think he’ll recognize this?” Rana held up the shell. “Cause if he does, I think he will want to talk to us.”</p><p>One of the men reached out and picked up the shell, giving it a look. “Well, I don’t know. This is a bit unusual, so better safe than sorry I suppose. Have another drink, we’ll be back.” They gave Rana a nod, and walked out the door, quietly talking to each other.</p><p>Kati looked over at Rana, taking a sip of her drink. “That was a piece of archotech that you just gave away.”</p><p>“It was a shell, and you took scans of it, calm down.”</p><p>“Mmm…We had better find out where that came from. Losing a piece of tech like that…it is very bad.”</p><p>“Just relax, take a drink. I think this is gonna get his attention.” Rana sat back, taking a drink and looking around the room.</p><p>A few minutes passed with the three of them sitting in the bar when the two men came back with a more worried look on their face. “Follow us.”</p><p>Rana looked at the others and gave a nod, getting to her feet. “Right. Lead the way.” They followed the two minions out of the bar and into the main street. They walked down the road, the lit up houses and habs on either side. A larger building was visible on the side of the street, the doorway much larger than the others. “Must be it…” Rana muttered looking around. “No guards here…”</p><p>One of the men gave a knock on the door and gestured. “In you go. See you later. If you’re in one piece…well, that depends.” He gave a slight grin and walked away from the hab, leaving the three of them standing alone in front of the door.</p><p>“Auspex reading is masked. Some sort of interference blocking it. Something rather powerful, but I can get something…one signal, I think. Unclear.” Kati gave the auspex a smack. “Sorry I can’t get more.”</p><p>“That’s fine, thanks. Well, lets get in there. Be ready everyone.”</p><p>Selora gave a nod, her hands going down to her weapons. “Should I take the lead?”</p><p>“You are the best armored. But be careful, starting to get used to having you around.”</p><p>Selora gave Rana a slight smile and unclipped her helmet, clicking it into place on her head. She pushed the door open, a dark room in front of her. Her metallic steps went into the darkness, the lenses of her helmet letting out a slight glow. Rana and Kati followed into the darkness.</p><p>“Nothing here so far, nothing coming up on my preysight. No heat signatures. You have anything Kati?”</p><p>Before she could answer, a vox unit crackled to life from above. A deep voice cleared it’s throat. “Hello. Close the door behind you please. I’ll open the door to my sitting room after. Thank you.”</p><p>The hiss of the vox went silent, and Rana gave a sigh. “Right then…play the game.” She went to the door and closed it behind her, and stood there in the dark, just the light from Kati and Selora’s eyes visible. “Now open up. We’ve got some things we need to talk about.”</p><p>There was silence from the vox, but a clicking from a door on the other side of the room. Light was visible around the doorframe as it swung open, the yellow light coming into the dark room. Rana gave a sigh and walked forward. “Dramatics…drives me nuts. Come on girls…” She walked through the light blinking in the suddent brightness, and tried to focus.</p><p>Sitting in a very large chair in front of a table was a very very large man. Even sitting he was taller then Selora, standing, he must clear seven and a half feet easily. He seemingly radiated a sense of quiet power and immense strength. Rana stopped moving, standing still in the room as the others went around her, Rana feeling them stopping as well. Rana took in a breath and looked up at the huge man. “Well. Hello to you Astartes. Been a long time since I’ve talked with one of you.”</p><p>He grinned down at Rana and nodded. “And should I keep my presence here a secret, I would. But things have accelerated, It was only a matter of time that I would need assistance, I am but one.” His voice was deep and rich and his face was dark, a deep brown that matched his eyes. “As powerful as I am, one must know their strength and what they can do.”</p><p>Selora unfastened her helmet, attaching it back to her belt as she stood up straight. “It is an honor to meet one of the God-Emperor’s chosen. But…where did you come from? I’ve not heard of any lost Space Marines, how did you end up here?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Day Sixteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Sixteen<br/>Sorry for the delay, here's a longer chapter for everyone!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That is a very long story, and you may not like some of the things I’ll tell you. But they are the truth. Are you sure you wish to know?”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>The giant nodded and sat back letting out a sigh. “What do you know about the Dark Angels?”</p><p>Rana looked over at Selora. “Space Marine chapter, lead by Lion El'Jonson. Work out of The Rock, huge space station, what was once part of their planet, which was destroyed back in the Horus Heresy.”</p><p>“Yes, but things were different in the 30<sup>th</sup> millennium. My name is Sergeant Kyrris Grasi. I fought for the Emperor in the time of his Great Crusade, moving from planet to planet, attacking and freeing planets. We were unifying the galaxy, and we were very very good at it. Our force was unstoppable, most of the time we just had to show up and people would give in. Sure, some were a bit more resistant, and we came across some very hostile wildlife on occasion, but things were good. Time went on, and there became rumblings. We were being stationed back on Caliban, we were training the new recruits. And while I was happy with this duty, as were many others, some were not. They felt they were being overlooked, passed over for glory, exiled for some unknown sin. “</p><p>“I never felt like this, as the honor of forging the recruits was more important than any other act, killing a xeno may be all well and good, but train a good soilder? Who can also train others? You will have returns on your investment far greater. Some did though. Luthor was of a dark mood, but we tried to keep on working. Things got worse though. People began to be captured. Luthor had lost his mind, was ranting about traitors in the Imperium, and how he was loyal. We were being rounded up by our own battle brothers, people we had fought with and would have died for. It was…”</p><p>Kyriss signed and unclenched his hands, which were balled up in fists in his lap. “It was the worst thing I have ever felt. We didn’t know why, or for what reason. All we knew were our most trusted friends had betrayed us. Some of us went peacefully, knowing this had to be a mistake. But it wasn’t. The skies opened up, fleets of the Imperium over our heads, and we knew that we were safe then, that this…madness would be answered and solved. But it wasn’t. The main guns of the planet…it fired on the ships. And they fired back. After that…It is hard to remember. There was madness and so much fighting. My closest friend, Taerus Sasi and I were fighting back to back, shots exploding all around us as the ground shook. And it kept shaking. I remember that clearly. The ground shaking like a beast, cracking with…strange light seeping from underneath. And after that, nothing. Flashes of color.”</p><p>Kyriss looked up at three of them standing there. “It is so hard to explain. Imagine something passing in the blink of an eye, but at the same time, that blink lasting for…an eternity, but also too fast to see. We crashed down in the depths of this place.”</p><p>“We?” Selora took a half step forward. “More marines followed you?”</p><p>“No, just one…Taerus. We were lost, our communications down, no idea where we were. Or when, but that surprise came later.” Kyriss game a bit of a laugh and leaned back. “Our first goal was to contact our home. Find out what had happened, where we were. Taerus took on that task, managing to get a message through a vox relay on wide broadcast, encrypted to Dark Angel’s frequencies. He got a response even, after a month of trying, living here, hidden. We were still unsure what had happened, but we had to contact our brothers. They would know. And they did. They said they were coming, to meet at a landing pad. And so we did. What else could we do?”</p><p>“But we were not foolish. Or rather, not wise enough. We arrived at the pad. Taerus took up position at the extraction point while I watched from a distance, hidden. We were still unsure, and we were being cautious. I saw the ship flying in, a different design than one I knew, but still had our colors on it. It landed, four fully armed marines coming out. Their armor was different as well, their guns held up, not down or on their backs. At this time I began to worry, they were acting like Taerus was a threat, but he just wanted to go home and continue his fight for the Emperor. I could hear him still, our Vox channel was open.”</p><p>“They asked him his name, which he gave, and another asked if he was alone. The tone of his voice must have made Taerus hesitate, as he said no, that he was the only one, and what had happened? The commander of this group stepped forward and stared down at him. I could hear his fury and anger over the com as he spoke. Redemption. That was all he said, redemption. At that point, Taerus did two things. He voxed me, a narrow band just for my ears. Run he said. The second thing was that he drew his blade. It was not a fair fight.” Kyriss shook his head, eyes closed. “They were…brutal to him. A fellow Marine, one of their brothers. The things they said, calling him a traitor, that all who fled were traitors, and he would tell what he knew of the fallen. They dragged him up onto the ship, a trail of blood behind him. He was still alive, you see. He might be alive still, some of those tortures can keep a man alive for a very long time indeed.”</p><p>“So that’s why you’ve been hiding. Not showing your face, I mean, a hive is a good place to wait.” Rana said, her arms crossed above her chest.</p><p>“Yes. I didn’t know who my allies were, what had happened in the long time I had been lost. Of the things I have learned, and I must say, some of it makes me more concerned. But that’s not the problem for right now. The past few decades, I’ve been trying to do my original calling. Protecting the people of the Imperium. And here, I can do that. I can train, I can offer protection. I don’t know much about sciences, but I know a little, and I’m a quick learner. I can keep things running and people safe. No gangers come around here I can tell you.”</p><p>“I imagine not, that risk assessment would not be in their favor.”</p><p>Selora took a step forward her face hard. “That’s all fine, and you are protecting this…town, but what about that shell? Why did you kill Father Meyer?”</p><p>“I had to. He was a source of infection, but I am worried I did not get to him soon enough.”</p><p>“A…A source of infection? He was a good man! A man of the God-Emperor! How dare you say he was infected!”</p><p>“How deep of a medical scan did you do on him after you brought in his body? I’m betting not much of one. May be my fault, those shots do leave a mess. He was infected by the genestealers. God knows how many he also infected, a deep purge will have to be done, if it’s not too late. Of course that may not even matter.”</p><p>“What…What proof do you even have of this?” Selora’s eyes were wide, shock reading clearly on her face.</p><p>“Well what would you call it when a Purestrain is standing by him and not killing him? And trying to protect him? That’s how I got sliced. Shot him, it slashed me and ran off. I heard people coming and so I had to leave as well. That’s where you got the shell I take it?”</p><p>“Yes, we found it on the ground by the…body.”</p><p>Rana moved to the side, looking at Kyriss. “What did you mean by it may be too late? Is the infection that bad?”</p><p>“Well, not sure on that front, I’ve been doing work to keep those numbers down. As for if we’re too late…They are looking for something. A very old piece of tech, even by my standards. I’ve done some minor raids on their holdouts, just to get some more intel, and they’re looking for something that can work as an amplifier. Psychic I think they were saying. Don’t know why it’s so important, but I figure if they want it, I need to get it away from them.”</p><p>“Psychic?” Selora brow creased slightly as she thought. “The Genestealers wait until they have massed enough people, for lack of a better term, to have enough psychic streingth to call the Tyranids. They come when they ring the dinner bell, more or less. That the planet is ready. They then rebel when they get closer, causing chaos as the Tyranids descend. After that…well, it’s a slaughter. They may be trying to call them in advance…This plant is a bit back from main areas, and it’s not like we can fight them in the wastelands.”</p><p>Kyriss nodded his huge head slowly. “That is possible. I admit I have not fought these Tyranids before. Most of my fighting was various Xeno races and humans who refused to play nice. You have fought them before I take it?”</p><p>Selora nodded. “Yes. A few times, and it’s not a experience I’d recommend. But more important, what is the plan? How are we going to stop this? Should we call in reinforcements of some kind?”</p><p>“We don’t know who to trust, or how deep this infection goes. We need more information. I’ve been hunting them where I can, but I have to be very careful. I know full well that if I get swarmed, I’m dead. We’re not invincible, and I’m the only one protecting this place.”</p><p>“Alright, well, you now have three people to assist.” Rana nodded. “Our efforts seem to align, and you know where to go. So if you can lead, we can head on down, figure out what’s going on. If we need to do surgical strikes or blow up the whole place.”</p><p>“I hope we won’t have to go that far.” Kyriss stood and stretched his arms, reaching for a huge cloak. “By the way, I don’t think you ever gave me your names.”</p><p>“Oh, of course…I’m Rana Bellweather, Holy Inquisitor. This is Selora Vero, Sister of Battle, and that is Kati Min, Tech-priest.”</p><p>Kyriss buckled the cloak around his shoulders, checking his weapons. “Ahh, right. Sorry, I’m still getting used to the Imperial Cult. A lot has changed since I was kicking around the galaxy.”</p><p>Selora gave a wide smile. “Well, don’t worry, just fighting along side of one of the God-Emperor’s chosen is a higher honor then I could ever ask for.”</p><p>Kyriss looked down and gave a nod. “Good to hear. Now, we’re gonna be going deep. Foundation level, it’s…not nice. The level of…stuff that has drained down there and just collected…Well, you ever heard the saying that trash is dropped on the people below, and then below them, until someone is prepared to eat it? Down there they eat anything. Sometimes I think the reason those genestealers haven’t spread farther is cause they’re fighting what’s grown up down in the depths. So prep yourselves, this is going to be a rough trip.”</p><p>“How are we leaving? I assume not out the front door.” Rana stood, looking up at the massive person.</p><p>“No, I have a passage I use, I don’t want to lead anything back here.” Heading to the back of the room, he opened a door to a downward sloping passageway. It lead to a large metal ring in the floor, which he gripped with one massive hand, lifting the thick slab of rockcrete it was attached to with barely a sound. Gently placing it next to the hole, he nodded at it. “Down you go. I need to go last to replace the slab. But don’t wander, this place is very unmapped. And unsafe, by design. There’s some rather nasty traps that would get me a talking to from my commander if he knew I was setting them up.”</p><p>The three women began to climb down, landing in the dark tunnel. The light above cut out as the slab thunked into place. A light came from Kati’s tendrils and shined down the tunnel. “Not bad construction. Think it’s an old drainage tunnel.” The thud from Kyriss landing shook the ground, as he held up a small lumen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Day Seventeen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Seventeen</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Good, still in one piece. Now follow behind me and don’t get lost.” Kyriss stepped forward, bent forward a bit from the low tunnel, and walked down the path. The tunnel was pitch black, the only sources of light were from the handheld lights that Kyriss and Kati held. There were drips of water from ahead, and some skittering from small animals, but on the whole, it was a bit peaceful.</p><p>“How long is this tunnel?” Rana winced as a drip of fetid water landed on the back of her neck, wiping it off quickly.</p><p>“Not much longer. It’s more or less to get out of sight of the town. Then we’ll do our decent. That will be rather dangerous, but on the plus side, any noise we make won’t be noticed. Lots of gangs who have a rather primitive view of territory.” After another few minutes of walking though the damp tunnel, and a single light was visible after a turn. It was above a large blast door, which slid open with a hiss as Kyriss approached. “Right then. A ride down and then we get stuck in. I suppose you can take off that robe now Sister, I think we’re pretty past being subtle.”</p><p>Selora gave a nod and tossed off her brown cloak, bringing up her weapon, checking the mechanicals. “Do you not have your armor anymore?”</p><p>“I do, but if any hint of my existence came to the ears of the Dark Angels…well, I don’t know what they would do. People do not become less of a zealot with time, and they may take the fact that the town knows of my existence as just cause for killing all of them…for whatever reason. I just don’t know what happened, so much information has been lost to me, and the news we get down here isn’t exactly first rate.”</p><p>The small group walked down a clanking hallway, sparks from badly wired connectors falling down on occasion from up above. Voices filtered in from above and below, with the occasional shouts and retorts of gunfire. Ahead, a rusted and worn platform stood stationary, the lights on the control panel blinking patiently. Kyriss approached the panel and motioned everyone to get on board. “Old elevator. Think it was used for transportation of materiel, back when this whole zone was still active.” The platform gave a lurch and after a moment, began to decent slowly, the rockcrete walls moving upwards past the open edges of the platform. The pacing of the lights set into the side was almost calming, besides the occasional sparking, when the walls suddenly ended, the sudden open space almost making Rana stumble. The platform was slowly moving down the edge of a massive dome, the hole they came from visible up above, growing smaller with every passing moment. The interior of the dome was lit up by uncountable fires, lights and other things that were glowing in a decidedly unhealthy way.</p><p>“Kati, can you detect radiation?” Rana watched as they descended closer to the ground. “I think we may need it.”</p><p>“I will be sure to keep a tally of it, along with any biological or chemical irritants. What are your allergies?”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. Just let me know if we’re going to inhale anything dangerous.”</p><p>“Will do.” Kati’s eyes clicked again, focusing on the lower levels coming up to greet them. “There seems to be a number of people below, in what I assume is the stopping point for this elevator. What is the plan?”</p><p>Selora gave a sigh and put on her helmet again. “I really don’t want to fight all of them.”</p><p>Kyriss nodded grimly. “For more than one reason. These domes are…not completely stable. Remember the hivequake about…oh, two years ago? Had a number of sectors above collapse.”</p><p>Rana gave a nod, looking up at the ceiling. It seemed strong enough, no cracks to be seen. “I do. That was one of these collapsing?”</p><p>“Not by itself. Gang war, some people got a bit rambunctious. Started cracking the dome. Something like that, a tiny crack quickly turns into a big one. And after that…well, not a lot you can do to stop it.”</p><p>“So what is the plan then when we get down there?” Rana looked over the side, she could just make out people down there by the landing zone. “Will they just let us pass?”</p><p>“Well, possible…I have some trinkets and whatnot I use for paying for passage, hopefully they still are happy with that.”</p><p>Selora was looking over the side next to Kati when she took a step back, brining her weapon up. “Something is wrong. Heat signatures are off. The people down there are either very sick or dead. Kati, you have thermal scans in those fancy eyes?”</p><p>“Sadly no, my upgrades were more in line of detail work. I am inclined to agree, they seem to be not moving. Perhaps they’re asleep?”</p><p>Kyriss leaned over as well, his eyes squinting. “I don’t know…How accurate are your scanners Sister?”</p><p>“Very. It’s not outside reason that I could be getting interference, but it is unlikely.”</p><p>“Best prepare for the worst then. It’ll be another five minutes before we get down to the ground.” He drew his weapon, a power sword, the edge humming softly as the blade crackled with energy. “We’ll know for sure soon, once we get closer.”</p><p>After another three minutes they had their answer. The smell from below was beginning to hit, the stench of rotting meat and fecal matter and blood. The noise of the shantytown was getting louder, the sound of animals running around, abandoned mechanical devices clanking and hissing as they ran without supervision. Rana didn’t say anything, just drawing her two weapons, checking the safety and preparing, the glow of the plasma pistol lighting up her face as she held the gun up, closing her eyes briefly as she did so, letting out a soft prayer.</p><p>“Emperor, watch over your servant as they descend into the darkness to destroy your enemies and protect your Imperium.”</p><p>“Emperor, I am your servant, and I will do whatever I can to bring your light into the darkness.” Selora was nearby, praying as well, taking measured breaths as they descended. “I will not fear the darkness for you are with me always. I will make the enemy fear the light.”</p><p>Kyriss gave a cough and looked over the side. “Almost there. Get ready, I have no idea what we’re going to find.” The platform gave a screech of metal as it settled in place, the light on the control panel blinking it’s steady beat again. The landing pad, if you could call it that looked decently defended. There were walls around it, a guard post, and what looked like watchtowers facing in. If someone was trying to assault this space, they would be having a very hard time of it. Not that it mattered to whatever killed these people. There were people scattered about the base, a few by the control panel, blood on the access pad as they would have frantically tried to call down the slow moving platform.</p><p>They walked off the platform, weapons ready, as Rana looked at Kati and pointed at the control panel, not speaking. Kati gave a nod and silently moved across the dirty floor towards the panel, beginning to work, soft clicks and beeps coming from her. Rana, Selora and Kyriss moved out to the gatehouse, the doorway leading out smashed. There were more bodies out in front of it, rats scurrying away as they approached. They took up positions, weapons held ready as they listened for anything moving. The beeps and clicks behind them stopped and Rana glanced behind her to see Kati moving up close to her.</p><p>“Disabled the controls, only I can get them working again. Don’t want our ride leaving. Also, looked up past access dates. This happened three days ago, that’s when they tried to get the platform back down. It didn’t work.”</p><p>Rana nodded, looking up the street. “Kyriss, you’re the one who knows this area. What do we do? Is there…anywhere we could get information?”</p><p>“I hesitate to use the term guards, but there are enforcers, you can’t control something this big without some level of bureaucracy. Their center is down the road, near the center. We can see if the path to the deeper levels are open there as well.” Kyriss lead the way, moving cautiously up the road, listening for any movement, any noise at all. There was nothing but the noise of vermin feeding on the dead. The people were scattered in the streets, cut down. They didn’t seem to just roll over however, there were many places where shots had been fired on both sides, but besides some stains, there were no bodies of the attackers to be found. Kati bent over one of the bodies, looking closing at a half-melted person, their lower torso almost boiled away from some sort of ferocious acid. “Biological acid is the best I can do. Nothing I recognize.”</p><p>Selora gave a nod. “Genestealers. They can have that. And they don’t want to leave bodies behind. Stealth is still number one. This could’ve been anything if you didn’t know what you’re looking for. Lets get moving, we are very exposed here…”</p><p>Rana gave a nod, and continued down the road. Her nerves were twanging, every rat turning over a empty food tin almost made her jump, and the lights and fires of the buildings were not making the area seem more hospitable. “How much farther?”</p><p>“Not far. See that taller building up ahead? That’s the seat of, for lack of a better term, government. Where the boss and their cronies lay about in any case. But someone has to collect the tribute.” The roadway opened into a plaza of some sort. Rana could see the skeletons of massive pieces of machinery around them, rusted into near oblivion. These bits and pieces were used as the scaffolding for the buildings around the plaza, which as far as she could tell was once some sort of market. Dead bodies lined the street, the floor was sticky with dried blood, the stalls almost untouched save for the occasional one being knocked over. They carefully picked their way through the stalls and booths, approaching the front doors of the main building. A camera, it’s red light still on watched from above as they went in.</p><p>Kati pointed up at it, nodding. “Power still on. May be lucky. If they didn’t clean out the stands, they may have left the cogitators.”</p><p>“The Emperor provides.” Selora said, nudging open the door with the barrel of her gun. “Worse in here…” Rana followed behind, coughing slightly as the smell hit her. The front hall was a slaughterhouse. People had obviously tried to run in the building, in the futile hope that it would protect them, to no avail. The slashed and destroyed bodies littered the floor, with barely any of the actual tile visible through the corpses. Flies and vermin were crawling over the bodies, some of the larger rats hissing as they approached, grown fat and bold from their feast.</p><p>“This is…beyond what I could have feared.” Selora said her voice quiet.</p><p>“I have to agree. I really hope there’s something here that can help.” Kyriss walked through the bodies, moving towards a stairwell which was more clear. It seemed that whatever killed them had done so quick enough that most of them could not make it up the stairs. Not that the upper levels were clear of the dead, the people who had been working up there, they had tried to barricade themselves in their rooms, the splintered remains of the doorways showing just how well that worked. Kyriss pointed down the hall, at a larger door, steel plated, hung ajar. “Security. They’ll have what we need, if it exists.”</p><p>The hall leading to the Security room was pockmarked with lasgun fire, grenades and other tell-tale marks of battle. The people here had tried to make a fight of it, but the doorway didn’t let things bode well. It swung on it’s hinges, creaking in the rust as Rana poked at the door, the lock melted away.</p><p>“I hate dealing with Xenos…give me a good heretic any day. Don’t have to deal with a heretic spitting acid or something.”</p><p>The inside of the room was oddly organized, compared with the ramshackle look of most of the other buildings. There was one wall that was half full with weapons, lasguns, stubbers and shotguns mainly, but some grenades and satchel explosives. A few consoles were against another wall, and screens above a desk, showing various feeds from around the main building.</p><p>“Jackpot. Kati, if you will?”</p><p>Kati was already moving towards the consoles, humming excitedly as she did so, her tendrils almost caressing the side of the machine. “I can and will. Come on lost little machine, tell me what happened to you…”</p><p>Selora was examining the wall of weapons, lifting one lasgun off the wall, sighting down it. “Not bad. I’ve seen members of the Imperial Guard who were more lax in their care. Must’ve stolen or diverted it, you think?”</p><p>Rana shrugged. “Possible. Heck, they could even have a plant of some sort down here, this was some kind of manufactorium. More likely a diverted shipment, Emperor knows it happens often enough by accident.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Day Eighteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Eighteen</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Delving into the mysteries of the Omnissiah takes time. But I am getting close, there are some security measures in place. Not that an alarm will really matter here, right?”</p><p>“Still better if not, we don’t know if anyone is still around. Although the fact they didn’t take these weapons is a bit odd. They’re valuable and useful.”</p><p>Kati gave a shrug as her other mechanical arms worked the console. “Don’t know. Maybe they didn’t need them, or had to move fast? In any case, watch the screens. I’ve got the feed up, and we have some history.”</p><p>The monitors above the desks lit up, flashing with static, before settling, the view outside with the destroyed booths visible as well as the hallways around the building. Static filled the screen again for a moment, and then the picture was of a calmer scene, a open air market, the stalls selling goods, people seemingly just living their lives, trying to survive down here in this dome, forgotten by the Imperium.</p><p>“How long ago was this?” Rana watched the silent monitors, the people moving around the market.</p><p>“Three days, maybe two hours before they tried to call down the elevator. Let me fast forward the image…” The picture jumped, the people buzzing around the market, then freezing. “OK I think we’re getting into it. The records I was able to access listed some alarms going off around this time.”</p><p>The people on the screen began to move at a normal pace, a few looking up in the distance in curiosity, but the majority just going on with their work. The people suddenly jumped, as if they heard a loud noise, everyone looking in the distance. There was no audio, but Rana could see people looking into the distsance, talking to each other. One or two headed off quickly, dragging small children behind them as they did so. A few guards that could be seen, picking up weapons, eying something in the distance. Then one shouted, pointing and raising his lasgun, the bright shots of energy flying from it, washing out the image slightly. He waved frantically for another guard, moving to cover and fireing again, the beams coming fast and intense. He was suddenly hit by something, a liquid of some sort, splashing into the ground and on him. His lasgun dropped from his hands, into the pool of liquid where the smoking of the gun was visible, even past the frantic movements of the guard. He fell back, the blood flowing from his legs and lower torso, smoking as it hit the goo. Trying to scurry back, white bone was visible  through the blood as it dissolved away, the guard falling back, going still.</p><p>“God Emperor above…” Selora muttered under her breath.</p><p>A burst of movement from the road the guard was fireing down suddenly filled the screen, an almost solid wall of chiten and blades, a swarm of creatures, running and moving up the streets, flowing like water. They entered the plaza, clawed hands and insect-like arms from behind their backs slicing into people. The people fell with silent screams, trying to run from the flood, towards the camera, where Rana knew the doorway to the building was. Rana swept the pictures and saw one of the hallway they had come down, a creature moving slowly up, investigating the doorways, broken off their hinges.</p><p>“Stop the playback please Kati…Nothing more to see here I think.” Rana took a breath and let it out slowly. “Well, now we know…” She looked back up at the screens, the far picture still showing the hallway with the creature sulking down it. “Kati, shut them all down, I don’t need to see any more.”</p><p>“I did. Why?”</p><p>Rana’s head snapped back to the camera watching the hall and spun for the doorway.  “Shut it!” she screamed, running for the door. Kyriss realized what she was saying in an instant, moving faster than anyone that size should have been able to. He vaulted over a desk and slammed into the steel door, the latch falling down with a click just as the sound of a screech came from the outside and the foul sound of chitin on metal rang out, the claws of the creature scraping against the door. “Kati! Get us eyes on the outside!” Rana ran to the overlooking windows, out into the plaza and felt her heart start beating faster. Creatures, all claws and hard insect like coverings were moving up the plaza. It was not the flood that she had seen on the cameras, but from her perspective, it may as well have been.</p><p>Selora was by her side, looking down over the mess of creatures. “Emperor above, protect us, we who have entered into the beast’s lair, to bring your light.” She clenched her weapon tightly and looked over the other cameras. “Kati, please tell me you have eyes on other parts of the city. How big is this swarm?”</p><p>“I have some. The swarm seems to extend out around two streets, and then fades out. Unclear where they’re coming from, but well…it’s not good, but it could be worse.” The light from outside was cut off as steel shutters dropped down, sending the room into the dim light of the flickering lumens. “Sorry, sealed it off, blast shields. Advantage of this place, it was designed to withstand an attack.”</p><p>“That is good in a way.” Rana looked back up at the camera, the hallway leading to the security room was packed now, things struggling to reach the door, bright gouges visible in the metal door as they worked at it, scraping and clawing at it.</p><p>“Kyriss, how is the door holding?” Rana moved to the weapons rack, looking over their assests.</p><p>“Well, it won’t be kicked in, the interior bolt is still ok, but I don’t know how much longer it’ll hold up to the claws. These things can chew though steel without much problem.”</p><p>“Great. Just…great. Ok we need to be ready. Selora! You have the most experience with this. What do we do?”</p><p>Selora looked at Rana, and then gave her head a slight shake, seemingly snapping to attention. “We need to form a killbox, so we can pour on fire without stop when they breach. These things don’t care about loses, but they also don’t notice losses until it’s too late. The door is the chokepoint, when they break through, we pour on the fire until we break them, or we die.”</p><p>Rana gave a slight grin to Selora. “Simple. Right. Kati! We need you on ammo. Everyone, grab the lasrifles, the grenades, anything like that. Kati, your job is to keep us loaded. We’ll take a few lasguns each, fire till empty then grab a new one. Kati, you reload and keep us ready. Kyriss, grab the heavy bolter and be ready. You take center, Selora and I will take sides. Sound good?”</p><p>Kyriss nodded, picking up the massive weapon from the side of the weapon rack, kicking over a desk and taking up position behind it. “For the Emperor.”</p><p>“Right. For the Emperor.” Rana let out another breath and turned to Selora, grabbing her gorget and pulling her down, kissing the front of her helmet. “Now you get in position as well, save that flamer ammo for when we really need it!” she said as she ran to the other size of the door, shoving over another desk and taking up position as Kati placed Lasrifles next to her, getting prepared.</p><p>Selora seemed frozen for a moment, before nodding, keeping her main weapon to the side and aiming down the sights of her lasrifle, a rockcrete barrier, what may once have been a waist-high wall between her and the scrabbling doorway.</p><p>There was a massive screech as a claw emerged from the door, ribbons of steel peeling back as it pushed down, the face behind it hissing as it saw the people inside, more claws becoming visible, the weak point now accessible. The doorway looked like a strange plant, the claws pushing inside and pulling, the metal of the door creaking, slicing apart, being pushed like rotten wood. The first creature finaly stuck it’s head through the door, it’s pale white face and red eyes blazing, it’s mouth full of pointed teeth and a long tounge hissing at the four humans inside, a fetid stench filling the room.</p><p>The roar of the heavy bolter was almost deafening, the mass-reactive shells slamming into the creature, puching straight through, the explosion of the shells echoing behind it. It shook in pain, and screamed, drooping over the hole in the door, a thick black ichor beginning to flow onto the floor. The creatures behind them seeme to not even notice, their claws ripping at the dead one, now just another barrier in their way. The weapons began to fire in concert, the bright flashes of the lasrifles filling the room with red light, smoking craters being punched in the shells of the genestealers, some falling back, some getting stuck in the chokepoint, their bodies torn to shreds to clear the way. And still they kept coming.</p><p>Rana tried to keep her breathing steady. Aim for the heads she thought. When they howled, right in the back of the throat. Disable, let their dead bodies choke them further. Advice from her teachers what seemed a infinite time ago from her now rang in her head. Her rifle went silent as the power cell went dead, and she tossed it down, grabbing a new one from her left as she continued to fire, the ozone smell of the ionized air filling her senses. The doorway was being whittled open further and further, bit by bit. Two creatures could stick their heads through now, one almost managed to get halfway through the door before being blown apart by Kyriss, bits splattering against her face. “Kati! What do we have on cameras!”</p><p>“Steady! We’re holding them, and if all remains, we will hold them off! We’ve got ammo to sit here until the Emperor gets off his Throne!” Rana could hear Kati snap a fresh powercell into another rifle, putting it in the pile next to her. “Just keep on, we’ll get it!”</p><p>Almost as Kati said those words, the group heard something smash into the sealed windows, something wet sounding. A hiss was heard from the windows and an acrid smell filled the room. Rana rook another breath and shook her head. “Kati, you’ve heard of Murphy, right? Can you get a visual? How long before we’re breached on two sides?”</p><p>“Working on it!” Kati dashed forward, her tendrils moving her to the blast shields, auspex out. “Still holding, but the acid is nasty stuff. It’s dripping off though, they can’t maintain the contact. We have time! You may want to be more aggressive though!”</p><p>Selora let out a laugh over her vox, reaching down to pick up a grenade. “THAT we can do! Foul beasts! I am the wrath of the God-Emperor! And you will learn fear!” She let out another laugh, triggering the grenade, pitching it like a scrumball through the hole. After a brief pause, there was a loud explosion in the hallway distant and the screaming of creatures, the press against the door lessening for a moment. “You will not defeat the fury of Him On Earth!” Rana let out another cry of anger, the second grenade following.</p><p>Rana gave a little shake of her head. “You heard the sexy scary lady! Go loud! Kati, if they start to breach the windows, let us know!”</p><p>Kyriss gave a nod, standing and lifting the heavy bolter, flipping it to full auto. The air was suddenly full of the smell of smoke and noise as the doorway almost disintegrated. The shells of the bolter slammed into it, the metal shattering and flying back into the hallway, revealing the mess of bodies and ichor behind it. Kyriss let out a shout, grinning widely. “I have missed this! I haven’t had this much fun in a long time! Come! We will wipe out this foul xeno!” He stepped forward, the belt of ammo trailing behind him, feedng into the destructive power.</p><p>Rana watched him stand, holding a weapon almost the size of her, that she knew, if she fired just one shot with, would break her arm at best, hosing shells into the mess of genestealers, their numbers seemly endless. A hissing noise from behind her made her spin around, just as Kati shouted a warning. A claw was pushing through the blash shield, squeezing into the space. The thing was so anxious to break in that even it’s own claw was smoking, the acid eating away at it’s own flesh. Raiseing her lasrifle, Rana fired, the rapid cracking of the bolts hitting the thing and forcing it backwards, falling to the ground outside. It wasn’t the only one though, and the falling creature had cleared the hole, even dragging it open a bit more. Rana took a step back, hearing the shots from behind her and the shouts of fury from Selora and Kyriss. She fired again, the red light flashing as it slammed into the creature, but the metal was much weaker now, the edges peeling back like foil, creatures beginning to crawl into the room. Rana was managing to shoot them as quick as they crawled in, but even she could see they were edgeing farther and farther with each one dropped.</p><p>“Breach!” She screamed out, not sure if the others could even hear her over the noise of the heavy bolter, and not daring to look behind her and take her eyes off of her target. Her lasrifle clicked, the power cell going dry. She dropped it to the ground, drawing her plasma pistol and fireing off a shot of brilliant blue at the creature crawling through the hole, the white-hot plasma almost splashing against it, the edges of the hole cut into the blast shield glowing red for a brief second. “Kati! Dry! I need help!”</p><p>Another bolt of plasma fired, the blue light flashing as Rana felt the weapon in her hands grow warmer. She was counting in her head. Plasma overheated if you weren’t careful. This was an elegantly designed weapon, and was miles better than standard issue. But even it had limits. You had to time your shots. Let it cool, more than one person has died from panic, firing too fast, overheating the wepon and then death from it exploding in their hands. Keep calm! Rana almost screamed at herself, trying to give time between shots, but the Genestealers were faster. So much faster, the hissing crawling creatures were like water, unstopping. She fired again and again, the weapon’s readout beginning to blink a warning red, then a steady bright red light as she dropped it, it hissing as it hit the ground, dropping in the mess of liquids below. “Help! Selora!” Rana drew her other weapon, the Laspistol and fired into the open mouth of one of the creatures, a hole appearing in the back of it’s throat.</p><p>They were too fast though, and her small handheld weapon was not able to keep up. They swarmed through the window, hissing. Rana could see Kati off to the side, a lasrifle in her hands trying to hold them off, but she was not a solider. Her shots were going wild, and the ones that did hit were on thick bits of armor. Not her job, Rana thought to herself as another genestealer dropped, at this range it was impossible to miss their wide open mouths. Her pistol fired again, and then clicked. Rana was slammed backwards, her head smacking into the ground as bright lights flashed in her vision, the huge jaw in front of her face, roaring. The roaring was so loud, but a core of her refused to wince. She looked up at the creature on top of her and screamed defiance as it roared a mechanical roar.</p><p>The blade of the chainsword screamed through the air above Rana’s face, the creature almost biting down on it as it entered, the figure in blue armor pushing it backwards, almost lifting it up, and would have if the spinning blades had not neatly sliced through it’s jaw and head, almost bisecting it. Selora let out another scream, charging forward, her whiring sword slashing into the creatures crawling up through the hole in the window. One was gutted from the side, it’s claw missing her by an inch as she moved to the side, dragging the spinning blade along it’s flank. Another was neatly beheaded as it roared, it’s head still trying to bite as it slid on the floor. Rana got to her feet, the room still giving little flashes of light as she ejected the power cell from her pistol, reloading and moving towards Selora.</p><p>She moved closer to the hole in the window that Selora was standing in front of, kicking a final creature off of her sword as it fell to the ground below. Selora looked around the plaza, the movement that had filled it before now gone, back to the odd silence there was before. Her heavy breathing was audible through her vox as she turned to Rana. “Are you hurt?”</p><p>“No, I’m ok. A bit dazed, that’s all. Are you?”</p><p>“No, I am fine. As is Kyriss, he is finishing up the purge. We need to move though. This place is no longer safe.”</p><p>“Can’t argue with that. That was a bit close there wasn’t it…” Rana let out a shaky laugh as she reached down and picked up her plasms pistol, it still lightly smoking from the burning ichor it had been dropped in. “Damn…Hopefully Kati can help with this…You ok Kati?”</p><p>Kati approached, with a nod. “I apologize for my lack of accuracy. The theoretical is much different than practical.”</p><p>“No worries Kati, you did good. Kyriss! You ok?” There was a grunt from the hallway as he entered, slime splattered all over him.</p><p>“I am. But we need to move. We were lucky then, but I doubt we will be again. If you are ready to move?”</p><p>“I’m ready. Should we bring anything with us?”</p><p>“I am reloading this wonderful weapon, but that is all. We hopefully will not need to be involved in that heavy of a firefight again, or at least this day.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Day Twenty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Twenty</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Great, where to? You said there was a way to the lower levels through this town?”</p><p>Kyriss nodded and moved out the door, his massive boots crunching on the shin deep mess of fluid and cracking bone. “There is another elevator, much smaller than the one we used of course, that heads down. We should be hitting a deeper area of the underhive without much problem. This fight may actually help us in a way. A stronger force will be heading this way, which will drain their resources.”</p><p>“I guess that’s one advantage. We need to find someplace to go to ground then. Which should be a bit simple in this mess of tunnels.”</p><p>The group exited the security building, moving carefuly through the now completely destroyed plaza. Kyriss lead them down a side road, moving quickly but as quietly as he could. “Up ahead. We may want to not take the actual elevator and use the ladder, I can’t imagine that it’s quiet, and we don’t want to make things easier for those things.” The elevator was up ahead, this descending lift had another guard ring around it, but it seemed they were less concerned with things coming up than they were about things coming down. The access hatch next to it opened simply, revealing a dark pit, descending down into the depths.</p><p>“Down we go. It’s a bit of a climb, but not impossible.” Kyriss began the climb, descending down into darkness. Rana gave Selora a look and a shrug, heading to the hole, gripping the rungs stuck into the wall and began to climb. Selora followed after, and Kati took up the rear, closing the hatch shut behind her. The pit was dark, even with the lights from Kati’s tendrils shining down. Rana focused on the rungs, keeping her eye on the wall, step by step as she descended.</p><p>“What’s the plan after this?” Rana risked a glance down, seeing Kyriss below, and nothing but a black pit beneath him.</p><p>“We’ll arrive at a maintenance bay in a while. If I remember, it’s mobile, not sure what it was used for. But it can move around a bit, get us isolated while we wait for the retaliation to get through and away from us.” The words didn’t seem to echo like they should, the pit below them focusing Rana’s attention as she listened.</p><p>“Right, just…let us know when we get close. I need to focus.” Rana took another breath, muttering under her breath. “O God-Emperor, allow your gaze to fall upon your servant, shield them from ills…” Rana repeated the litany to herself as she climbed, the specks of metal and dust falling from above in a gentle drift, the footsteps from above knocking loose bits from the ancient rungs. Her hands were cold inside of her gloves, the sweat beinging to form inside as she breathed slowly, not looking down or up, just focusing on the wall in front of her. She tried to imagine she was just a few feet off the ground, not far at all. Step after step, her breath starting to get more labored as her arms and legs started to grow tired.</p><p>“How much longer? I’m the only one here not in armor or augmented, don’t forget.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, almost there, another few minutes and we’ll have time to rest and take stock.” Kryiss’s voice was humorous, his own boots clanking on the rungs with regularity. Rana gave a noncommittal grunt and continued to move down the ladder, fighting to focus her breathing. Trying to not think about the darkness below her. The unknown depths that were waiting straight down, how if she dropped, she would fall and vanish into darkness and never be found or seen again.</p><p>Rana shook her head and gritted her teeth, feeling her jaw clench. “O God-Emperor, allow your gaze to fall upon your servant…” Rana began to recite a bit louder, trying to silence her own rebellious thoughts. Her thoughts were interrupted by Kryiss’s voice from below.</p><p>“Here we are. A few feet down, and we’re at the landing.” The noise of him stepping off the ladder with a clank of metal and footsteps on some firm surface. Rana gave a nod, looking down, seeing him in the dim light from above and the step to the opening in the wall. It was a simple distance, something easily reached, but the thought of her stepping over the gap made her pause. The pause, even if no one would ever have seen it made her more angry. She was not some frighted child, she was a member of the God-Emperor’s Holy Inquisition, and she would not stand here shaking on a ladder. Steeling herself with a breath, she stepped outwards, stepping on the metal grating as Kryiss took her hand and pulled her in, almost lifting her off her feet.</p><p>“There we go. Step back, give the others space.” Kryiss looked up and saw the descending form of Selora, her metal armor clanking against the ladder as she descended into view, easily stepping from the ladder to the tunnel carved into the wall. Giving Kryiss a nod, she stepped back as Kati descended like a spider, her tendrils gripping the rungs and swinging her into the tunnel with no sign of difficulty.</p><p>“Nice decent, these are always interesting. Drains like this are collection points, you’d be amazed the kind of things that come up in them.” Kati dusted herself off, looking around the tunnel. “Ahh, access path for mobile repair pods. Very old, but still useful. We have some we use for big constructions, and I’ve seen a lot in the Titan foundries off-world. Can’t exactly use scaffolding to fix a war machine that’s almost a hundred feet tall.”</p><p>“Do you know how to operate it? I was able to camp briefly here a while back, but was unable to work it.” Kryiss moved down the path to a sealed hatch, whose handle spun neatly under his hand and swung open. Inside was a capsule shaped room, plenty big enough for all of them and then some. Banks of control panels were on one side of the room, the other with monitors and readouts, all blank and silent.</p><p>Kati’s eyes went wide, or at least the lenses where here eyes would have been clicked in an excited tone. “Oh my…The Omnissiah provides…This is amazing!” Kati dashed to the control panel and began to type furiously. “Oh yes, this is an original! It’s ancient, I had no idea it was down here, the ones we have are shadows of this, barely half the size and none of these controls! Hold on…I think I can persuade the machine spirt to wake up for us…” Kati reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled out a small censer, smoke starting to rise. She began to flip some switches, her other tendrils working at a console, the screens and panels still dark. Clicking, humming and prayers to the Omnissiah were filling the room, along with the choking sweet smell of the insence. The room was still dark, nothing seemed to be working however.</p><p>“Kati, maybe it’s been too long…The spirit could have left, rejoined the Omnissiah.” Rana approached Kati as she worked. Kati waved a hand dismissively, and paused, head cocked to the side slightly. She froze still, waiting, and there was sudden dash of movement as she kicked forward, the clang of her boot connecting with a panel under the console. The clang had barely left their ears when the pod lit up, light coming from the consoles, humming and whirring being heard as it came to life again.</p><p>“Ha! I didn’t have access to the proper tools, but while the machine spirit will respond faster to the use of a properly sanctified hammer, the ritual knock will also suffice. At least for now. I’ll have to strip it all out and give it a proper fixing, won’t I…” Kati ran a hand down the side of one of the consoles with a slight coo.</p><p>“Kati! Later, once we’ve figured this out, we’ll get a proper investigative force down here and you can strip it to your heart’s content. For now, can you get us moving? Quietly?” Rana moved to the hatch, closing it behind them and spinning the wheel.</p><p>“Oh, of course, give me a moment…” The pod gave a lurch as the screens opposite of Kati blinked to life, showing an outside view of the darkened chasm. The green tint of the enhanced lenses could only do so much however, and all they could really see was darkness, with the occasional flash of something flying across the space. Rana could feel the pod move beneath her feet, swaying slightly as motors above them moved them ponderously across the space.</p><p>“Well done Kati. Now, can you bring up a…map or something? Does this thing have any kind of diagrams?” Rana typed at a console, various maintenance orders and requests scrolling past the screen.  </p><p>“I think so, but well, it may not be any good. What are you looking for?”</p><p>Rana turned to Kryiss and raised an eyebrow. “Well, what are we looking for? We got something better than we could hope for with this. Where is our end goal?”</p><p>“This is far more than I could have hoped, true. The end goal is to defeat this xeno threat and excise theme from this planet. As to how, I have a possible location. I got there before by going down and across, to the base floor, what I have to assume is below us right now. We could be able to drop right on top of them with this, figure out where the cancer is located and then burn it out.”</p><p>“Right then. Kati, general map then. Lets get a sense of locations and layout.” The screen in front of Rana blinked to life, a green lined map of the area coming into vision. Rana let out a low whistle as she looked at the screen. It was obviously some sort of massive manufacturing plant, perhaps for starships or something even larger. There were docks that could be seen on the plans, lists and notes on the dock and what was there, or what would have been there.</p><p>“Damn. How in the warp did the tech-priests miss this place Kati? There’s gonna be a swarm down here as soon as word gets back. Heh, I think you’re gonna be due a promotion.”</p><p>“I think you’re right…The data here is…invaluable! Some things are locked behind security, heh, a weak attempt. There may be blueprints or designs, ooh, I AM going to be promoted for this, no question!” With an excited giggle, Kati clicked away on the keyboard. “This’ll take a little bit. Take some time and catch your breath.”</p><p>Rana nodded and moved over to a seat in front of a console, and sat down, closing her eyes and letting out a breath.</p><p>“So. I think we maybe should talk.” Selora’s voice cut through the attempted calm and Rana’s eyes snapped open.</p><p>“Ah. Yes. Um. I think an apology is in order?”</p><p>“An apology for what?” Selora’s helmet was mag-locked to her belt, and Rana could see her eyebrow raised in question.</p><p>“Well, you know…When we were about to be attacked, I…kinda…kissed your helmet.” Said outloud, Rana felt her cheeks flush as she turned from Selora, back to the screen. “Sorry. That was…unprofessional. I was worried we were gonna die, if that’s an excuse.”</p><p>“Hmm. I suppose the threat of death is a bit of an excuse. I feel like I need to apologize as well.”</p><p>“You? What for?”</p><p>“Well, when you were swarmed by those genestealers, I used my blade to take them down, when I could have killed them more simply with my ranged weapons. I suppose I was also not thinking straight when I saw you pushed to the ground by it.” Selora gave a cough and looked at another screen, away from Rana. “I mean…It’s not like it was even a kiss. The outside of my helmet doesn’t really count.”</p><p>“Oh…Um.” A half smile formed on Rana’s face. “Should I be apologizing for not doing it properly then?”</p><p>“I just think that an Inquisitor should know that if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly that’s all.” Selora’s face had a small smile on it as well, as if she was making a joke at Rana’s expense.</p><p>“Well…I suppose that is true Sel. I do pride myself on doing a good job, no matter the mission.”</p><p>“I see. Well, what are your plans now then?”</p><p>Rana gave another smile and got to her feet, pulling Selora down and kissing her properly this time. It was a new experience to kiss someone amost a foot taller then you while they were clad in heavy armor, but not an unwelcome one. Rana broke away and smiled up at Selora. “Well, was that properly done?”</p><p>“I think so. We’ll have to try again later to see if your standards slip.” Their banter was broken by another giggle from the side. Rana turned to see Kati staring at the two of them, a wide grin on her face.</p><p>“Bout time. Now actually get some work done, I’m about halfway through decrypting this and I’d like to not get caught out and you two are too busy making out to remember to reload your guns.” Kari turned back the the screens, the green text on it scrolling down and lighting up her face.</p><p>Rana looked back at Selora and gave a laugh, shaking her head. “Right then. Lets go over our supplies.” That effort at least didn’t take too long and offered a bit of distraction. Their supplies were still looking good, the armory of lasrifles having preserved most of their ammo. Rana still had a number of ammo packs for her plasma pistol, which after going over the construction with a cloth, seemed to be working perfectly fine with no ill effects from being dropped. “Of course, we can’t withstand another attack like we dealt with before, we don’t have anywhere enough ammo for that. Let alone a favorable terrain.”</p><p>Kyriss nods from the other side of the room, bent over a screen. “I agree. We have something here though, it looks like this place was being expanded, there’s listings of maintenance and plans for adding another docking bay. Then things just end.”</p><p>Kati nodded from her console, turning to Kryiss, her tendrils still working behind her. “I saw that, I got some of the messages, still working on the others. I’ll put them up over there.” Kati nodded at a screen, which suddenly filled with green text, and then a voice over the speaker.</p><p>“This is Forman Reivel, reporting status of delay in the order for expansion of construction bay 23-Theta-3. Drilling has been halted; we have hit something strange. According to the tech-priests, it’s a possible aerchotech. They’ve done deep radar scans, and it seems to be a cube of unknown material. Hollow, which we know because our digger servitor punched straight through it. The Cog-boys swarmed after that, but the only thing they found was a weird little statue or something. Had a glow on it that I’m not ashamed to admit made my hair stand on end, Emperor preserve us. They took it away, the crazy tech boys chattering in that weird language. We were then told by an honest to Emperor Inquisitor to halt digging, and to pull back. Said it was Heritic stuff, and we were to pull out, end of story. So we are. Emperor knows I don’t question the Inquisition. Forman Reivel signing off.”</p><p>The message clicked to an end, and Rana read though it again. “I never heard anything about this…but that’s not surprising, the we never get told anything…Kati, any progress?”</p><p>“I have some things, done in Bianaric Chant. Clever way to hide it, no one else can understand it.” Kati clicked another button and the room was filled with static, clicking and screeching. Rana claped her hands over her ears as the noise screeched, and then ended with just as much suddenness.</p><p>“What the frack was that’s Kati? Something break?”</p><p>“What? No, no. They’re just being long-winded. Short and precise! That’s what we need, not flowery language. Thought they were never going to shut up…”</p><p>“And…what did they, for lack of a better term, say?”</p><p>“Well, cutting out the, frankly very organic, language, they discovered a piece of ancient tech. Unknown origin. Powerful though. They transferred it to a lab nearby for study. There was a bit of waffeling about how pretty it was, something about weather, but then they got back to work, and focused. Some prelim studies, no real forward progress. They managed to figure out it was some sort of psychic amplifier, but other than that, had no clue how it worked. So they locked it up, tried to secure it. Everything else is corrupted, but it was near the last messages they posted.”</p><p>“A psychic amplifier?” Selora looked over Rana’s shoulder at the scrolling screen. “Hm. The Tyranids use that…You’ve heard of the Shadow in the Warp?”</p><p>“I have, but I don’t think we’re going to be invaded…”</p><p>“I have not.” Kryiss said, looking at Selora. “I have been out of the loop for quite some time.”</p><p>“Ah…well, the Tyranids, those things we fought before. They travel in massive swarms throughout the void of space. Going from place to place, picking it clean of anything organic and then moving on. Their psychic…well, shadow, for lack of a better term is so huge that it blocks out everything. Astropaths, psychic powers, everything. All psychics just go…well, dead. Sometimes literally. It’s often the first warning you’re about to be invaded, but by then it’s too late.”</p><p>“I see. What does this have to do with the device?”</p><p>“Could be nothing, but one of the final steps of the Genestealer cult is to gather enough psychic force to call down the Tyranids. They send up their call, and they come. The problem is they have to have enough people and minds to be heard, a critical mass if you will. I am curious if this…device is part of the reason the Genestealers are here. They could be looking for it, or wanting to use it.”</p><p>“In any case, it seems very dangerous, and something we don’t want in the hands of the Xenos.” Rana said, scrolling down the screen farther. “Do you know where the lab was Kati?”</p><p>“I think so. It’s close, they didn’t want to move it far. According to this very dramatic Magos, they had to take over a storage bay and convert it, almost build the lab around the thing. It’s…not far. I can drop us almost on top of it, if that’s what you want.”</p><p>“It’s a theory…but I am worried that we’ll be dropping right in the mouth of the beast.”</p><p>“If it helps the equation, I have patched into some basic diagnostics, and it seems this area is mostly quiet. Nothing interesting here to use, nothing to eat. Could be that it’s shielded well enough to keep it out of the way and not found.”</p><p>“That does help actually…Ok, unless there are any doubts?” Rana looked over the room, and saw everyone else giving their head a shake. “Alright. Kati, get us as close as you can, and we’ll try to do a old fashioned smash and grab.”</p><p>Kati gave a nod and the pod began to move, creaking on it’s old wheels as it transversed the dark rails up above. The pod swung gently, the stabilizers still working well enough to keep everyone from getting seasick as it moved in the dark space. There was another clunk as the pod stopped, and then began to move to the side again. “Sorry, switching rails. Some of them have been damaged, have to be careful. It has been a while since this was maintained.”</p><p>“No problem Kati, just keep it slow and steady.” Rana said, gripping the armrest of her seat.  She felt a hand on her shoulder as Selora came up behind her.</p><p>“You don’t like heights do you…”</p><p>Rana glanced up and then gave her head a quick shake. “I’m fine though. The Emperor protects. I’ll deal.”</p><p>Selora have her shoulder a gentle squeze and nodded. “The Emperor protects.” There was another clunk as the pod swung again, and there was a sinking feeling in Rana’s stoumach as she felt the pod start to drop gently. The cabels above were spindleing out, the creaking of the old metal very audible in the pod.</p><p>“Almost there. I don’t know what we are going to find, so we need to move fast I think.” Kati pushed another button, and the pod stopped with a gentle thud.</p><p>“Ok. Kryiss, you take lead, we’ll be right behind you. Kati, will that thing be good to go if you leave the machine spirit for a bit?”</p><p>“Oh yes, It’ll be fine. And becides, you’ll need me to get into the lab.”</p><p>Rana gave a nod. “Alright. Lets move out.” Kryiss headed out of the pod, heavy bolter held in his hands, sweeping from side to side as he emerged.</p><p>“Clear. Which way?” A spot of red light appeared, glittering from Kati’s tendril as it snaked along the floor, towards a spot of darkness. Kyriss nodded and moved forward, the open and mostly clear docking bay making things easy. The room was almost silent, just air currents from up above and the occasional flying vermin from far up. There was also no light to be seen, the lights from the interior of the pod were the only thing they even could see. Kati’s lights were some use, but trying to push back the darkness of untold centuries with a small hand lumen was never going to work. Kati knew where she was going though, and kept her red laser sight on the path they needed to take, leading them to a large bulkhead. Kryiss moved against it, back against the wall, gun up.</p><p>“Along this wall a hundred feet. Then we’re in the hall, and we’re basically there.” They followed Kati’s instructions along the wall, moving into the open passage. The hall was oddly clean, just a layer of dust and animal grime on the floor, but not a spare screw out of place. Kati pointed at a large sealed doorway, the first spot of light they’d seen on the wall next to it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Day Twenty-One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Twenty-one</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“There. Seems to still be sealed, let me work…” Kati moved to the door and began to work the access panel. Muttering in binary, she pulled off the panel, exposing the wires as she worked with it. A spark arced out, lighting the hallway with a flash of white light, and the light above the door blinked to green.</p><p>“No problem, these old tech priests would be the laughing stock of Mars if they tried to pull something like this today, a repeating quadranic passcode with only a drift of three? Come on. A ork with a rock could get it open.” The door began to grind, the ancient gears whineing as it opened the door, sliding along very worn rails.</p><p>“Just close it again once we’re in, I’d like to not get attacked from behind if it’s all the same to you.” Rana followed after Kati into the dark room, her lights showing a line of consoles in the gloom.</p><p>“Will do. Let me just make sure here…Ah!” Selora and Kryiss entered in as the lights inside the room blinked on, the harsh white light filling the room. “That’s better.” The door creaked again, moving shut as they turned to look at the room. It was…boring in a way. A room with a bank of cogitators, some screens, tables in the middle, and a set of heavy doors on the back wall. Nothing else seemed to be here, not even a spare data slate.</p><p>“I’ll be honest, the fact that it looks so…empty makes me more worried.” Selora moved down the middle of the room, the orderly tables seemingly set for people to come and work, as if they were just on break for a moment. “Can we get any kind of information on what they were working on?”</p><p>Kati had moved to the interior consoles and was plugged into it, two of her tendrils attached to the side. “Yes, I think so. At least where the artifact is.” She gestured to the back wall as the blast doors began to slide up, oddly silently, the quality of the interior doors set to a much higher standard. The doorway on the left opened first, and the initial feeling of Rana was disappointment. She had followed Selora back, and the thick armorcrys keeping her from the artifact seemed excessive. It was a small obelisk, a slight point at the top with sigils down the four sides. The sigils were glowing softly, a steady, faint blue light visible. Rana looked over at Selora and shrugged.</p><p>“Any thoughts? You know the Tyranids better than anyone else here.”</p><p>“None at all…this is just so odd. What were they doing messing with something like this they don’t understand? For all they know, it could have opened up a portal to the warp right here!” The door to the right began to move, this one moving much slower, and as it slowly lifted, Rana could see that the thickness of the metal was much greater. It slowly wound it’s way up, when Rana gave a gasp and jumped back, just as Selora shouted, pulling her weapon up and out. “Tyranid!”</p><p>“Cover! Everyone, get to cover now!” Selora dashed around the table behind her, kicking it over and drawing a bead on the huge still creature. “Wait…” she took a breath, and stepped closer, looking at the thing. It was huge, two massive claws connected behind it’s back, with a smaller set of ripper claws in front, and two massive taloned feet. It was lying against the window, the transparent material scored with scratch marks, along with the metal around it. Rana could see the decay, or what would decay through the window, the insect-like outer shell still in one piece, but the soft tissue gone, decayed to nothingness.</p><p>“Throne…” Rana said, moving closer to the bottled corpse. “What in the name of everything holy were they doing with one of these? Kati! Tell me you have something!”</p><p>“I’m working on it! Hold on…I have a holo that was, as far as I can tell, a sales pitch. Looks like a number of people thought this was a stupid idea as well.” The lights dimed, and from above, a projector began to shine, the far wall lighting up. Standing in front of the camera was a well dressed Techpriest, addressing an unseen audience.</p><p>“Greetings, Magos Nallen here. Our progress is going along very well, and I believe that this discovery could open new worlds of possibilities! Our initial studies of the device have been amazing enough to warrant a complete rethink of our current efforts against the Tyranid forces. While we don’t understand the full use of it, we have been able to activate it in some small way. Observe!” The Magos gestured behind him, to the caged Tyranid. The device was in the other containment room, and with a gesture to another worker, it began to glow brighter, the light behind the runes rippling. “Our instruments have detected a spike in warp energy when used, which has the most amazing effect on these xenos.” As he spoke, the creature began to screech, slamming into the wall connecting it to the device. It seemed to be trying to claw it’s way into the room, bright gouges flashing in the metal. At another gesture, the light from the device dimmed, and the creature seemed to be dazed for a moment, before looking out the window and giving a different screech, attacking the thick window as the armored door dropped down.</p><p>“As you can see, this device is…a lure! The range is unknown, but If we could amplify it…imagine! We could direct the hive fleet, use it to attack our enemies! We need more study, but this is something that we cannot ignore. The risks are great, to be sure, but the possible rewards are also far reaching. Can you picture setting this on a planet, turning it on, and just watching these filthy xenos kill for us? That is what I need, more resources for puzzling out the exact level of control we can have, decoding this device for the good of the Imperium. Thank you, and I await your approval.” The screen blinked off, and the lights came back up in the room.</p><p>Selora was still staring at the wall where the vid had been playing and let out a long slow breath. “I…need to understand what I just saw. This thing…can attract Tyranids. Huge bug creatures who’s method of attack and conquest is to eat everything and grow larger and more numerous from the raw bio-matter. Is that right? Did I understand it?”</p><p>Rana looked over at Kati who gave a shrug. “I think so Sel. I mean, it’s not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, which should tell you how dumb some of the ideas I’ve heard have been.”</p><p>“No, I think this would win. Lets lead the creatures to more biomass, in order to win a little ground war against…I don’t know, Orks? Ta’u? Some other Xeno, and then what? We pat ourselves on the back and head home?” Selora seemed to be almost unhinged, paceing back and forth, almost waving her arms in the air. “Do they not know what these things are? They are not some kind of…animal you can leash! I don’t care what device or ancient tech you have, this thing has to be one of the most dangerous…things I’ve ever heard of, and I will say, my first instinct is to destroy it.”</p><p>“I…am inclined to agree, but what if that’s worse? What if destroying it sets off a huge burst of energy, and suddenly every one of the things is heading straight here? Right now, it’s off. So that’s what we need right? Can we just…close up this room and not mention it again?” Rana looked over at Kati as she spoke.</p><p>“We could. But the genestealers are looking for it. I’ve found a bit of scrapcode in the system, trying to break in, some of them must have heard some rumors or found some old data. They haven’t managed to get in, but, well…it’s a matter of time. And if they get here and find out what we have?”</p><p>“Then the Tyranids will swarm from the stars to here. Who could have even made something like this? What’s the point?” Selora pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed as she shook her head.</p><p>“It could be that the attraction of the xenos was a side effect.” Kryiss had moved up to the window, looking closely at the dead creature. “If it’s old enough, who knows what it was supposed to do.”</p><p>“That’s even worse! Kati, do any of the Cogboys have the slightest sense of self preservation?”</p><p>Kati shrugged, still at her console. “If there’s new tech? Something properly ancient and intresting? No.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Day Twenty-four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Twenty-four</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That was rhetorical, but thank you. So what do we do? It’s been here for a long time without being found so far. Can we even move it? Take it somewhere secure?”</p><p>Kati gave another shrug. “Circumstantial evidence says we can move it, but things may have changed. Becides, where would we take it? I know my fellows, they would want use it. I mean, so do I! But this is not tech from the wisdom of the Omnissiah, this is xeno tech. I think best thing to do is shut everything down, maybe even bury this whole area in a controlled demolition of the area. Make sure nothing can ever get to it and there’s no hint of it anywhere.”</p><p>Selora gave a nod, walking over to Kati. “That’s a good idea. Can you wipe the databanks that cleanly?”</p><p>“Well, no, but you have explosives. Can’t get anything from a pile of slag. It’s a true shame to lose this kind of tech, but xeno stuff is already heretical, so that’s better.”</p><p>“Great. Ok, lets get to work. How can we bury this place?” Rana began to dig in her bag. “I don’t have much, we’re a bit short on high explosives.”</p><p>“Might be some left over in the mech bays, I mean, they left pretty quick.” Selora was placing her own meager supply of grenades on a table. “These could possibly set them off, provided they’re not too old.”</p><p>“Right, good plan. Kryiss, could you go with Selora, try to find something we can jury-rig?” The huge man gave a nod, and started to walk to the doorway when a ear-splitting crack rang though the air. The doorway bulged, shiny broken metal showing in the cracks and the smell of explosives filing the air. There was cry of excitement from outside and shouts. Kryiss dashed back to the middle of the room, picking up his heavy bolter, pointing it at the doorway.</p><p>“I think we may be out of time! Kati, is there a back way?”</p><p>“What about the artifact? We can’t just leave it!” Rana crouched by a table, her plasma pistol pointed at the door, banging and clanging on the other side clearly audible.</p><p>“We take it, we’ll be chased until they get it and we’re all dead! At the least, we need to get this intel back home!” Kryiss locked the action of the bolter back and checked the ammo feed. “And we do not have the ammo for a sustained siege. We can try to rig the room, but that only works if we have a back way out. Kati! We need an exit!”</p><p>Kati was at the console still, the screen flashing past her eyes as she typed, her tendrils jerking from place to place. “I’m working on it! Most of these places don’t have a back door, it’s a security issue! This place…it was cobbled together….Here!” Kati disconnected from the console and ran over to the table, grabbing Selora’s grenades. “Are these all you have? I need something more melta flavored to breach the wall.”</p><p>“You said you found a back door!”</p><p>“No, I said I found a way out, and it’s through this.” She grabbed one of the grenades and placed it against the wall, moving another  upwards and affixing it a few feet above. Right, this might work. If not, well, our problems will be over soon.”</p><p>Selora rolled her eyes as she clipped her helmet back on her head. “That is not as comforting as you think it is.”</p><p>“Your job is to offer comfort Sister. That and fire. My job is to offer logical truth. Now get knock over that table and get behind it, we don’t need someone getting a piece of shrapnel in the eye.” Kati placed a blinking device on the grenade and moved behind another knocked over table, taking cover. “OK, everyone down!” The grenades exploded on the wall, the room filling with smoke and dust as the noise outside got louder, the banging getting more incitant. Kati moved over the table, advancing on the blasted wall. “OK, think it worked! Lets move, and get ready to rig the wall to collapse, we don’t want them following!”</p><p>Kati moved through the hole blasted into the wall, followed by Kryiss and Rana. Selora was last, taking her remaining explosives and priming them, tossing them into the room. “Move!” The four of them took cover, ducking behind a ancient crate as the explosives went off, a crashing sound from the room, dust billowing through the room as dirt and crushed rockcrete falling down from the hole in the wall.</p><p>“Right, lets move fast. We don’t have a lot of time.” Rana stood up, shining a light through the dust filled air. “Kati, do we have a path?”</p><p>Kati nodded, and moved through the maze of boxes and crates. There was another explosion from behind them, the cracking of a metal door ringing behind them and the shouts of victory from the lab. Kati ran forward, ducking around and past boxes, her lights shining forward. Dust caked every surface, but as of yet, nothing seemed to be shouting at them. “Past here, to the door and up…” They went through the doorway, pausing to see any sign of lights of noise, but the whole area was pitch black, no sign or noise anywhere. They came out of the doorway and moved down the hall, taking a turn to the left and then to the right. “Here, lets move up.” Kati pointed up at the ceiling at a large vent. “Through there. Climb up and over, we’ll get to a junction area.”</p><p>The movement up through the vent was difficult for Kryiss, his bulk making it a bit difficult to squeze up through the hole, but they managed to get up though it and up the ladder, into a maintenance area. Rana turned to the rest of the group as they paused for a moment. “Alright, we have some time. We need a plan.”</p><p>Selora nodded. “We have a group of xeno cultists, a dead Tyranid and an ancient artifact that we don’t understand. We have to assume that the cultists have the artifact now, and if we’re very lucky they are too distracted by it to really chase us. Is that a good summary?”</p><p>“Seems to be. We need to find out what they’re doing and stop them however we can. Whatever they’re planning, it can’t be good for the Imperium.”</p><p>“Can’t argue with that. We need to track them back to their main lair so we can excise this tumor.”</p><p>Kryiss nodded. “This does seem like a good chance to follow them home. They are going to be bringing that artifact straight back home. But we need assistance. As good of a fighter as you lot are, we can’t do it by ourselves.”</p><p>“You’re right. We need backup, someone to go up there and get reinforcements. I don’t want to split us up, but I think we have to.” Rana sighed and checked her weapon. “I may be the best one to go, I am an Inquisitor. I can demand damn near anything, and they’ll come, no one wants to get in the way of the Inquisition.”</p><p>Kryiss shook his head. “No. You are very capable, but I am better at getting through the lines of any possible forces to get to the main floors. I will go.”</p><p>“You can’t go, you are currently being hunted by possible traitor Astartes or something worse, if you go up there, you’ll get noticed!” Rana looked at Kryiss in some form of shock.</p><p>“I know, but I have the best chance to get up there quickly. If we fail with this, the whole hive could fall.” Kryiss stood up, picking up his gun. “I admit, I’m not sure where to go to best get forces.”</p><p>“Well…You are an Astartes. People are going to listen to you by sheer force of will and just by you being here. If you walk into a transport bay, you can just demand a trip and people will be tripping over themselves to give you a ride. As for where…Here.” Selora took in a breath and carefuly reached up to her fleur-de-lis embossed on her chest, pulling a hidden blade from the scrollwork. “Take this to the Monastery of the Blue Rose and take this to Cannoness Kato. Tell her what is going on and that we need help, as much as we can. Whoever you manage to get to give you a ride will know how to get to the monastery.”</p><p>“Alright. I remember how to get back out of here. I will head upwards, to the main levels. You need to follow the cultists, and get a location. Do any of you have a vox we can use to find you?”</p><p>Kati nodded, reaching into the folds of her robes and handed over a small vox unit. “That should be able to connect to us, and get a location bead. It won’t really work when you farther away, the levels of rockcrete really mess with signal.”</p><p>“Understood. Well, good luck. Be careful.”</p><p>Selora nodded. “May the Emperor protect you. Go safely and with stealth.”</p><p>Kryiss nodded. “Thank you.” He then moved to the ladder, heading down it with remarkable silence for someone of his size. He vanished down the ladder and his light vanished down the lower hallway.</p><p>Rana let out a breath.  “Well. Lets get moving. We need to track those cultists, find out where to take the fight to them.”</p><p>“How? I mean, how are we going to track them without being spotted? They already have to be on alert.” Selora stood up and dusted off her armor.</p><p>“Well, we can try to figure out where they could be, somewhere with a lots of space perhaps…Or we can try to follow their noise, they are not quiet. This whole area is a nest of passages, we can get above them and try and follow that way. Safer, but risky.”</p><p>Rana looked down, thinking. “Lets do both…Kati, get some blueprints up, there needs to be a large space. Something hollowed out or a hangar. We’ll start moving back towards the lab, see if we can pick up a trail.” Rana began to move, heading down the maintenance tunnels, the dim lights from their handheld lumens revealing the empty tunnel. They moved down the hall, quietly listening, but the only sounds they could hear were the noises of rats and other vermin scurrying away from them.</p><p>“No matches that are likely yet…This place has any number of locations that could be it. Sorry.” Kati scrolled through her auspex, the light from it reflecting off of her eye lenses. “Some motion from this, but we’re in such a mess of metal, it could be damn near anything. We are getting closer to the lab though, take a left up ahead. I have to assume that they didn’t run out into the huge construction bay.”</p><p>The tunnel went to a four way intersection, and Kati moved down the tunnel, taking the turn and walking down the dirty passage.</p><p>“Ah, got something…large movement. This way.” Kati said quietly, pointing down the tunnel. She moved quicker, her tendrils clinking as they moved her down, following the blips on her handheld scanner. The scanner’s red blips began to get larger, focusing and becoming denser.</p><p>“I don’t like it…” Selora said as they moved quickly. “This is…too easy. They have to know that we’re here. And we got away far too easy.”</p><p>“I agree. But it’s the only option we have. And they may just not care, if that thing is that important, we’re a minor detail.”</p><p>They slowed as Kati raised up her hand, signaling them to stop, looking down at her scanner. She put a finger to her lips and motioned towards her scanner, pointing at it, another hand holding a data slate. She pointed at the swarm of red dots, and then at the map on her slate. Zooming out, it seemed to be like the mass of red was moving towards an orderly line of additional hardware bay. Kati gave the location a tap, and Rana nodded in agreement. Scrolling through the blueprints, Kati tapped again on the screen, a overlaying vent system accessible from the tunnels they were in.</p><p>“Hunting blind.” Rana said with a nod, pointing up at the vents. Selora nodded and they began to move, slowly and carefully walking. They could hear the noise of movement from below now, but no voices. The occasional clanking and noise from things being moved and doors, but not a single voice was heard. The temperature was also getting warmer as they got closer and Rana was blinking as an acidic smell was starting to filter up into the air. It smelled of rotting meat and bile, a faint mist or fog drifting across the floor of the tunnels. Moving up to a vent in the wall, Rana carefully kneeled next to it, looking down over the vast space.</p><p>The space was lit up, with people quietly working, moving supplies and checking weapon stockpiles. Two of the massive pits that were used for maintance wer filled with a dark fluid, bubbleing and letting off drifts of steam. The humans, if you could even call them that were visible, and the foul mutations were on display. Some of them seemed almost proud of them, their third or fourth arms with shiny bracelets or weapons held in them. The most shocking was the large creatures, the creatures with huge scything arms, similar to the ones they had killed up above. They were walking through the groups of mutant people down there, as if they were in charge, shoving past the crowd as it wandered. Selora touched Rana’s shoulder and pointed, a large group was moving down the middle of the room, holding up the artifact, the lights from it still visible from the distance. The group came to a stop, still holding up the artifact, while a space cleared out from around them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Day Twenty-Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Twenty-Seven</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A space cleared out from in front of them, a open path that people cleared, all without a sound. A large door on the far wall opened and the first real sound was heard. The crowd began to give a cheer, the noise riseing as some…thing sitting on a palanquin, carried by four people. The thing sitting on the litter was huge, a bloated massive thing with four arms, two of them were mostly hands, but the other two were large claws. It’s face was elongated, sharp teeth visible even from the distance. A purple tongue lashed out, as the head nodded towards the cheering crowd. He approached the group holding up the artifact, the litter placed on the ground. The thing stood up, and raised a hand, silence going over the crowd in an instant. He took a step forward, taking the gently glowing artifact in it’s claws, and then lifting it above his head.</p><p>“Brothers! We have searched for ages for a way to call the Four Armed Emperor to our world, he is said to come and clense the unbelievers from this place and lift us up to the stars where we shall sit beside him. This artifact, we will be able to call them, no more waiting, no more slowly gathering our strength to call to the stars! We will send up a beacon that will pull them here. We can feel the pull of this artifact, and soon so will the Four Armed Emperor! Now we will prepare for the day we all have been working towards, be joyful and rejoice! Our assencion is at hand!”</p><p>The creature lowers it’s hands as cheers erupt, applause and stomping from the group. The leader walks back to it’s palanquin, and is lifted up into the air, moving back towards the door as the crowd began to disperse, moving back to their tasks, lapsing into silence again. Rana took a step back from the vent and looked at Selora.</p><p>“Well. Thoughts?”</p><p>Selora shook her head. “This…is bad. If it is what it sounds like, if they’re trying to speed up their call to the Hive Fleet, this is very bad. Normally, the critical mass of the cultists is so large that they can’t really hide anymore. They start the rebellion to soften things up, the Tyranids get called, and there we go, a horrific swarm of aliens trying to eat everything.”</p><p>“How long does it take for them to get here if they call?”</p><p>“Hard to say…not like, ten minutes, but also not centuries. Years sounds like a long time, but if this wave of aliens is coming, it may as well be tomorrow. We would be completely shut once they get close, and that’s if that…thing doesn’t have a bigger effect. For all we know, it could just blackout all astropath communications, all psychic methods of talking just poof, gone.”</p><p>“That…is bad. Kati, did you save any of the research notes even though we told you not to?”</p><p>Kati gave a nod. “Of course. Why?”</p><p>Rana rolled her eyes slightly. “What information do we have on it? Did they get any kind of data on activation?”</p><p>“Nothing intresting, apparently if you put power into it, it would start attracting the xenos, but that was it. It was…a lure. The etched runes on the sides did react to people manipulating them, but the experimentation didn’t get anywhere. No change in it’s effects. Deep scans were unable to get through the surface of it.”</p><p>“What are the odds that this lovely group here could be able to get it working?”</p><p>“No idea. If it was their artifact to begin with, well, that raises a number of other worrying possibilities.”</p><p>Selora nodded. “That they were here before the hive, a scouting party that crashed or something, got buried and then just hidden here until we were unlucky enough to dig into it, releasing it.”</p><p>Rana shook her head. “That is just…look, we can’t do anything about that. We need to figure out what to do. Can we destroy that thing?”</p><p>“I mean, it’s an option, if it was sitting right there. I don’t know how to get to it though.”</p><p>“There has to be something we can do. I don’t think we have time to wait for Kryiss to get back here. Kati, is there anything down here we can use to make things worse for them?”</p><p>“Don’t know. If we were at an active construction facility then maybe, you’d be amazed how close to massive disaster most of those places are. We could set off some fuel pods, mess with a ship reactor, all sorts of things. This place is empty though. Nothing but debris.”</p><p>“Rana looked through the vent again down at the crowd. “Maybe something left behind? I’ve seen those tanks, they can’t move something that big.”</p><p>A tendril snaked up over Rana’s shoulder, it’s camera clicking as it looked down over the bay. “Well, possible. It did sound like this level got cleared out very quickly. Let me see…” Kati bent over her slate, muttering to herself, as she scrolled around the blueprints, her tendril jerking from place to place. “Ok, looks like the fuel depot was over on the far side. See, we’re here.” Kati turned the screen to Rana and Selora. “In this corner, overlooking these repair bays. I have to assume that the big disgusting xeno is back here, in the storage areas. Probably hollowed out to be some kind of throne room. And over here...” Kati scrolled across the screen to the other end of the bay. “Is the fuel tanks. Or where they should be. It’s pretty dark, and while I can see something, it’s a lot of junk.”</p><p>Rana gave a nod. “Ok. Best option I think. We move down these tunnels to the other edge, find those tanks. That gives us some options, just need to know what the status of those is. Unless anyone else has a better idea?”</p><p>The other two shook their heads and Rana gave a nod. “Right, lets move quickly and quietly, we don’t know if they’re in these vents. Kati, let us know when we’re getting close. Selora, take the lead, Kati behind. You two can see in the dark, and we need to go without lights, make sure I don’t trip over anything, ok?”</p><p>Selora gave a nod, turning off her lumens and moving down the hall. Rana reached out, putting her hand on her shoulder, letting her lead down the darkness.</p><p>Rana had done a lot of horrible things in her tenure for the Inquisition, and had been scared for some of them. Not a lot, she was proud to say, but sometimes that fear is unstoppable. The point of it was to ride it, not let the wave of terror knock you off your feat. But this was something new. She could hear the clacking in the distance of the creatures below, their horrible insect like legs scraping against the metal floor, softer clicking from their mouths, and always that horrible smell, acid and rotting meat mixed together. The pitch blackness made it so much worse. The noises seemed amplified and it seemed like the creatures were right behind them, just waiting in some sort of weird game, just toying with them before they would attack right before they reached their goal. She was in control though. She was an Inquisitor, and they were not afraid of the dark. Things in the dark should fear them. Rana took another breath and let it out slowly, her litanies spoken softly, a way to center herself and remind her that while these creatures were horrible, they paled in the light of the Emperor. He was the rightful ruler of the universe, and all other twisted things were living on borrowed time.</p><p>Selora suddenly stopped moving, and Rana bumped into her back, letting out a little hiss as her head impacted with the ceramite of her armor.</p><p>“Sorry. I think we’re here, or at least close.” Selora moved away from Rana, leaving her standing alone in the dark. “Yes…I can see the debris field. Some very big structures which may be fuel storage, but not going to know until we get closer. Could be water tanks for all I know.” She clicked on a light, making Rana hold up a hand, squeezing her eyes shut.</p><p>“Ow. Gimme a sec.” The bright spots in front of her eyes began to fade in a moment and blinking, she opened her eyes in the tunnel. “Ok, there we go…Warn a girl next time Sel.”</p><p>“Sorry, forgot that you don’t have dampeners.” She tapped the side of her helmet and gave a shrug. “Very useful.”</p><p>“I’ll bet. OK, Kati, what do we got?”</p><p>Kati moved to the vent cover and peered though. “Well, it’s the right place. Not seeing a lot of movement. Think they’re keeping to those weird acid pits.”</p><p>“Digester pools.” Selora said almost absentmindedly. “They put the collected biomass in there, where it’s broken down for…forming new creatures.”</p><p>Rana looked over at Selora. “When you say Biomass…”</p><p>“I’ll bet we would’ve seen a lot more rats down here if they weren’t.”</p><p>“Great. Ok, lets get down there. Are there any access hatches Kati?”</p><p>“Down this tunnel, hatch in the floor. Should let us out in a side hall that leads to the depot.”</p><p>“Super. Lead the way if you will.”</p><p>Kati gave a nod, and walked down the tunnel, which after a few moments lead to a hatch in the floor. A moment’s effort allowed the door to be opened, which did give a very loud creak as it did so. But nothing seemed to have heard, or at least not heard enough to care. Moving down the ladder, they arrived at a larger access port, which in turn brought them to a more organized hallway, something that normal people would use. The blast doors ahead of them were open, and there were an almost shocking number of warning signs and hazard markings.</p><p>“Warning: Explosive, Warning: Hazardous, Entry Prohibited, and so on…” Kati read from the signs as the walked closer to the opened blast doors. “Must be at the right place.”</p><p>“Guess so.” Selora said as they walked through the door. The mess of junk that was around was remarkable, the rust and the dust coming up in clouds from their footsteps. “Least we’ll hear anything coming…”</p><p>“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time. Kati, what do we have?”</p><p>Kati walked through the mess, picking her way with care, her mechanical tendrils lifting her up and over anything that may be in her way as she walked. “A mess, which in any other circumstances I would be digging through with the highest levels of enjoyment. But I do see some tanks over there, and possibly the warning labels we’re looking for. Just pray that it’s still got some in there.”</p><p>“The Emperor provides to those who keep the faith.” Selora said, her armor now streaked with the dirt and rust of the surrounding metal. “If this fails us, we will find another way.”</p><p>“I really hope it’s there though…I don’t really have a plan B.”</p><p>“That implies we are even on plan B. By my math, we’re quite a bit farther along than that.”</p><p>Rana have a short laugh which turned into a cough from the dust in the air. “Ok, I’ll give you that.” The three of them approached the huge tank, broken parts of large machines piled around it, as if everything had just been shoved over, clearing space. The tanks still looked to be in one piece as Kati approached it, her tendrils pressing against the skin of it.</p><p>“The Omnissiah does indeed provide. Basic sonar pulse has a guess of about one quarter full.”</p><p>“That’s better than I could have hoped!” Rana turned, squinting through the debris down the huge hangar bay towards the lit section they came from. “Right. Kati, open the valves and make it so they can’t be closed. We’re going to burn out this infection at the heart of our world.”</p><p>Kati nodded and skittered around the side of the tank, towards a massive valve, almost rusted over. “One moment…” one of her mechanical arms reached out to it, gripping it and with a violent movement, bit into it, the metal giving a screech as it broke, the whole valve falling to the floor with a huge clang. The noise was interrupted by a torrent of liquid, the smell of raw promethium spraying out. Kati climbed back around, dropping to the ground and grinned at Rana. “Step two?”</p><p>“Step two is getting the hell out of here. We need a good location to set this off and they have to have heard that.” They rushed through the forest of rusted metal, the liquid sloshing around their feet as they moved to the doorway they came in. “Kati, can you close that door? I mean, it was built to withstand an explosion like this right?”</p><p>“It is supposed to. If it actually will is another story, it is quite old.”</p><p>“Better odds than leaving it open. We also don’t want to burn out our escape route. Seal it if you can.”</p><p>Kati nodded, moving to the door, starting to work the controls. The door gave a creak, and hazard lights flashed on for a moment, warning the surrounding area the door was closing, but with a crack from above and the smell of ozone that momentarly overid the smell of fuel the door stopped moving. Kati carefully backed away from the door, looking at it in fear. “That…was very very lucky. The vapors must not have collected at a high enough concentration.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Rana said, looking at the door in confusion. “The door broke because of the fumes?”</p><p>“No, I mean, the door broke because it missed the last three throusand annual checks. And it then sparked and shorted quite impressively. If the fumes would have been at a higher concentration…well, our problems would be over.”</p><p>Rana felt a chill go over herself. “Ah. Right. OK. Lets just…leave. Will the hatch up above let us seal it  that way?”</p><p>“I think so, but I don’t think the ventilation system is the best place to be in a environment that will be soon filled with explosive fumes Inquisitor.”</p><p>“Well fine, where do we go so we don’t get fried?” Rana looked up and down the hall, the liquid fuel was streaming into the side hall they were in at a respectable clip, but most of it she could see was flowing down towards the light. “We need to move before it gets set off accidently.”</p><p>“What was your plan to set it off on purpose?” Selora said as they moved down the hall, the flow of fuel behind them.</p><p>“I…was going to have you shoot it from a safe distance, your explosive rounds would set it off nicely.”</p><p>“Oh. Well, that won’t really work now.”</p><p>“I am aware!” Rana hissed as they turned the corner. “So what do we do? We can’t just hope that it gets triggered randomly.”</p><p>“We could light a fuse.”</p><p>“A fuse? I don’t think we have that Sel. I didn’t think to bring five hundred feet of fuse, I’m sorry.”</p><p>“We have a fuse Rana.” Sleora pointed down at the river of fuel below them, now less of a flood and more of a steady stream going down the hall.</p><p>“Ah. Hm. Ok…” Rana looked down at the stream and sighed. “I mean, I guess. Ok, lets move. Kati, is there a way into the first construction bay we came to from here? Hopefully without crossing any other paths?”</p><p>“There is, sholdn’t take too long.”</p><p>“Do you think if we light this, it’ll reach the big supply?”</p><p>“I think the worry should be if it’ll blow up the whole area, I don’t have a good sense of the concentration of fuel.”</p><p>“Right. Alright, The Emperor protects, and I really hope he’s watching us now. Selora, flame it, and lets get ready to run.”</p><p>“You and Kati should get clear first, if this goes wrong, my armor should protect me to some degree.” Selora lifted up her weapon, the flamer nozzle pointed down the hallway.”</p><p>“I..I would really like to not do that Sel. If this goes wrong we’re all standing before the Emperor.”</p><p>“And we are losing time the more you argue. I’ll be alright Ran. Get clear, I’ll be right behind you.”</p><p>Rana stood still for a moment and shook her head. “You better be. We got a date later.” She then ran down the hall, Kati following behind her. The turned a corner as a light came down the hallway, the orange and roar of the flamer telling them that Selora had triggered her weapon. The roar turned into a howl, air rushing past Rana and Kati, the shockwave slamming into them as they were tossed back, the world turning to bright light.</p><p>Rana coughed from the floor, her ears ringing as she looked around. The whole room was spinning slightly in front of her, black soot seemed to fill the air. She looked around frantically, and saw Kati on the floor, getting to her feet as well. Coughing as she got to her feet, she began to move towards the hallway. “Sel! Where are you?”</p><p>The walls were blackened with the force of the explosion, the echoing roar still audible down the hall back towards the fuel tanks. “Sel!”</p><p>“Rana? I’m fine, the armor took it. Just scorched my robes.” Selora raised herself on her feet, she had been knocked back farther down the other crossway of the hall. She got to her feet, shaking her head and checking her weapon. Her armor was blackened, soot and burn marks down the side. The cloth parts of her armor were still smoldering slightly, but she seemed to not notice. “Bit of a delay there…”</p><p>Kati lifted herself up to her feet, coughing slightly. “Yes, that can happen. The vapor to air mix has to be very precise. Too low or high, and nothing happens. Must have burned until it reached that point. I apologize for not thinking of that.”</p><p>“It’s fine Kati, just…glad you’re ok Sel.”</p><p>“Forget me, I am incased in some of the finest armor the Emperor can provide. Are you alright?”</p><p>“Yes, I’m ok. A bit shook, that was some explosion. And speaking of that, lets move. Fuse is burning right? When that hits the main supply, it’ll make this explosion look like a firework.” Rana began to move, the hall swaying in front of her eyes for a moment before steadying. “I’m fine. Ok, lets move. Kati, which way is it?”</p><p>“Follow me, we’ll get there. Hopefully before that flame does. Have you ever seen a lot of promethium go up?” Kati began to move quickly down the hall, her tendrils dancing along the floor as she was carried along with them, Rana and Selora running after her.</p><p>“No, but I’ve read reports.”</p><p>“Let me say this. If that tank was completely full, I’d be worried we’re going to bring the whole hive down on our heads. As is, the structure of the bay should contain it, or at least direct it. We may have a new entrance after this!”</p><p>The three of them ran down the hall, any thought of stealth was forgotten as they heard more noise from behind. Shouts and cries, the roars of some kind of beast in the distance. They ran on, knowing it wouldn’t be too long before the flames hit the main pool of fuel. The dark hole leading to the bay they first came down in was visible, and as they ran through, turning on their lumens, they moved to the side, getting into cover.</p><p>Breathing heavily, Rana looked over at Kati. “Not long now…Think we’re far enough away?”</p><p>“If we’re not now, we never will be.” Kati said with a cheery voice. “Just wait…can’t be long now…”</p><p>The three of them braced, waiting for any feeling of noise when a bright flash of light came from the hallway, followed by a earthshaking rumble, stone and bits of metal falling from above, crashing into the ground. The sound hit next, the screaming of the explosion and the crash of stone. The air was rushing out of the tunnel in a torrent, bits of scrap and junk flying out like a shotgun blast. The sound started to fade, the rumbling and crashing fading, the sound of falling pieces of machinery from above the only real noise.</p><p>“Well. That worked. Think any of them survived?” Rana looked over at Selora and Kati.</p><p>“Unknown. We will have to do a complete sweep later with a full force to make sure it’s completely gone.” Kati looked at her slate again. “The construction was very good, however…And the back passages may cause us problems. The area that the leader went into was protected by standard blast shields, and if they had been down there for some time, they may have gotten escape vectors.”</p><p>“Well, we can’t really worry about that at this point, right? We must have gotten a lot of them, enough to mess up their plans.”</p><p>“I can only hope so. Now we just need to get out of here and back up to the main floors.”</p><p>The noise and light from the tunnels they emerged from was starting to lessen, and in the darkness of the hangar, Rana could see the spots where more flames was vented, points of light in the darkness, one close enough that she could see the dome of the tunnel.</p><p>“Wait. Kati, Sel, look at that….Do you see anything from that tunnel?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Day Thirty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Day Thirty</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wait. Kati, Sel, look at that….Do you see anything from that tunnel?” Rana pointed at it, the orange and yellow light dancing. In front of it, dashing out of it was a dark shape, and then another, running out, claws flashing in the brief silhouette of the fire.</p><p>“I do, damn them…Some must have gotten away, or the explosion wasn’t big enough. You’d think one whole tank would blow them from here to the Golden Throne.” Selora clicked the safety off her gun and gave a sigh. “Not quite what I wanted.”</p><p>“Well, they are all burning, so that may give them something to think about at the very least.” A light a short distance away made Rana turn her head, looking out over the massive dark space. “Target over there…” Rana moved from the tunnel, approaching the light, looking for any sign of movement, hoping that the tyranids that were fleeing from the fire were too busy to worry about the three of them. Moving to the light, Rana saw it was coming from one of the huge sunken pits, the pipes leading into them were leaking out fire, goopy liquid fire that poured out like lava, burning the floor as it spread. Rana looked up, and she could spot a few more light pools forming.</p><p>“Oooh,intresting! It seems that the burning promethium has reached the sewage and waste runoffs. They were all connected to make things easier for cleaning. That must be what the rest of those are, the burning fuel coming in. Useful, we can actually see a bit now.” Kati looked up at the more distant fires, another dark shape running past it into the darkness. “But I think we need to figure out what to do at this moment.”</p><p>“I agree. Sel, how’s the range on your armor’s vox relay?”</p><p>“Pretty good, but we’re so far from anything. I’ve not picked anything up for a while.”</p><p>“Well, try, if Kryiss got through and to them, I want to know how long we need to hold out. This is possibly the worst possible battleground we can have for those things.”</p><p>Selora nodded looking around the shadowy dome. “I have to agree. We need a defensive position or something. But I think we have a bigger problem.” The light from the further fires were being blocked out more and more, as more things swarmed out, the hissing and crowing of the Tyranids audible clearly. “I think we need to move.”</p><p>Rana pulled out her plasma pistol, the blue glow of the charging chamber lighting up her face. “I think you’re right. I can see a mess of…something over there. Looks like a fallen gantry and lifter…As soon as we bolt though, they’re gonna chase. I think they’re not sure where we are now, but once we run…”</p><p>“Then we had better run fast.” Selora turned her head, scanning the fire-lit darkness. “Just say the word, as we go.”</p><p>Rana nodded, taking a breath in. “Right. Lets move.” She took off running, bootsoles ringing out on the floor as the generic noise from the aliens became a screech, and the sound of scampering and crashing talons and feet became louder. She ran over the dark floor, the pools of light from the pits of fire the only thing keeping her from stumbling in darkness. The ground was covered in debris, bits of machinery, scrap metal and emperor knew what else. Rana leaped over a rusted crate, some unidentifiable liquid congealed below it, hitting the ground and risking a look behind her. She immediately wished she had not, the tide of chitin was massive, and while what she could see in the dim light showed that the xenos were far from a their best, many were missing limbs and almost every one had deep burns, the fluids leaking from them reflecting the firelight, they had power in numbers. Amost absentmindly she aimed back, letting a plasma bolt fly. She heard it burst into the horde, it wasn’t like it was even possible to miss at that wall of creatures.</p><p>“Keep running!” Rana shouted, the other two keeping pace, Kati having the best time with the obstacle course, her robotic arms letting her move over the uneven terrain as if she was walking down a street. Selora was close behind her, but while Kati was moving like water over and around anything, Selora was more direct in her movements. Not that she couldn’t jump and move over the bigger objects, she seemed to take the opnion that anything that was able to be broken through wasn’t actually a obstacle. The track of destroyed bits and scrap behind her was rather remarkable, Rana had to admit.</p><p>“Any grenades left?” Rana shouted as she slid over some kind of transport, across the hood of it, dropping back down smoothly. Light flashed in the room as an explosion echoed, a splattering of ichor and chitin raining down.</p><p>“Not anymore!” Selora bent slightly, smashing through a pile of pallets like she was punching through a line of defenders on a scrumball pitch, turning slightly and raising her arm, her weapon letting out a quick burst of explosive shells. “But we need somewhere to hole up, we do not have the ammo for this!”</p><p>“Not much farther, the piece of construction is ahead, we should be able to defend it for a time.” Kati dashed up and around, jukeing to the side as a ball of some sort of acid splashed on the ground, hissing and fizzing as it ate away at the ground.</p><p>“I really hope Kyriss made it!” Rana could see the fallen crane ahead, the thing having fallen on top of some sort of half built machine. “The ladder looks clear, get moving! Once we have high ground, we can actually do something here.” The noises were getting louder behind them, if this was a long term race, they would have no chance, but the sight lead they started with made it possible. Rana ducked under a half fallen piece of scaffolding, sending another blast through the gap, hoping that it might make something collapse, causing a delay of even a second. Kati reached the pile of junk first, ignoreing the ladder and just scurrying up the side her arms gripping and almost throwing her upwards. Selora was second, swinging her weapon around to her back and moving up the ladder while Rana was right behind her. She moved up the ladder like it was on fire, the whole structure starting to shake as the fastest creatures slammed into it, trying to bite and claw it down. Rana felt something grab onto her arm, and yank her off the ladder, seeing Kati’s tendril wrapped around her wrist as the ladder fell apart behind her. She crashed on the hard surface of the half built machine, and got to her feet quickly, still gasping for breath.</p><p>“I think we’re ok for a moment. Those creatures can’t seem to climb very well, at least not this mess.” Kati gestured down at the horde under them, as the scrabbled around, the mountain of rough meterials making it very hard for their insect like forms to get a good grip. One had even, in a bit of sustained effort managed to get a bit of the way up, until the junk failed to support it, crashing it back town, it’s body piereced by a jagged piece of metal.”</p><p>Selora looked down as well, her gun up and ready to fire. “Our situation for the long term has not improved greatly, however. What now?”</p><p>“Working on it…” Rana said, checking her ammo and looking over the horde of creatures that were beginning to pile up underneath them. “Why aren’t they charging…they could get to us if they tried. Crawling up the bodies of their dead.”</p><p>“Because I have told them to hold their charge!” A cracking voice rang out from behind the mass of creatures, as a space began to form, a figure being carried forward. It’s body was horribly burnt, one of it’s arms was gone, another just a blackened claw leaking what passed for it’s blood. Half of it’s face was just a mass of burned tissue, the bone underneath clearly visible. It hissed loudly as it was carried forward the mess of teeth visible as it grew closer. “I am the one in charge here, the steward for the star children, who will arrive! And they will sweep this foul mess away, elevating us to godhood along with them, while you cling to your Corpse Emperor and fall even deeper into the decay that you worship!”</p><p>“Foul thing!” Selora shouted, taking a step closer to the edge of the ledge they were on. “You will die in the burning fire of the God-Emperor, and you will die screaming! Your pathetic lies cannot protect you from killing you, even if we should die, we will be sure to kill you!”</p><p>A bubbleing laugh came from the burned creature as it halted near the edge of the junk pile. “Oh, you think we want to kill you? You simple simple creature. We want you to live. We want you to live and run back up to the above levels, screaming your warning. Monsters in the underhive, creatures in the dark! Yes…cause the panic, the screams of worry! Send troops down here to try and flush us out! We will kill all of you and add you to the brood, heh, in one form or another. Call your reinforcements from the stars, ours are on their way! We will exterminate them all, and then move on to the other planets in this sector, and we will grow larger and stronger as you get weaker. We will eat your rotten imperium and turn it to something glorious and beautiful.”</p><p>The thing gave another laugh as a path was cleared in the horde, the chittering monstrosities moving backwards and away. “You see, don’t you. We have covered all possibilities. We are in control. And now you will walk on out of here, in a misguided belief that somehow, someway, you can stop us. And you will try, oh, how you will try! You will throw endless amounts of meat into the grinder, into our mouths and we will grow stronger!”</p><p>“For someone who’s so strong, you’re looking pretty burned up now.” Rana shouted down, trying to get an accurate count of the horde, but the darkness was getting deeper. “Looks like you weren’t expecting that were you?”</p><p>It gave a hiss and ran another of its arms over it’s burned stump. “No, I admit. I never thought you would be so stupid and wasteful to leave a container of fuel down here, just abandoned. How many people died for that fuel? And you just left it here, unimportant and wasted. Now climb down little creatures, climb down and run, tell your masters that the true masters of the galaxy are coming, and we shall feast!”</p><p>Rana looked over at Selora, who stared back through her expressionless helmet. Rana gave a slight nod and turned back to the creature. “So you’ll just let us walk away, up above and tell everyone you’re here.”</p><p>“Of course! We wish to feed, and if you can deliver masses of lovely biomass, well, why not?”</p><p>Rana nodded slowly. “Well, I guess the choice is obvious then.” Rana glanced at Selora and in the same movement, drew her two pistols, the blue light from the plasma flareing out, down towards the mess of creatures. The red light from her laspistol followed right behind, and the roar of Selora’s explosive bolts slamming down echoed across the chamber.</p><p>Selora let out a roar, amplified by the vox in her hemlet as fire blasted out from her gun, burning promethium raining down.  “I am the fury of Him on Earth, and we will never surrender! We will burn you out like the cancer you are! Come and get us coward!”</p><p>The figure on the litter hissed, an arm going up to protect his face as one of the other creatures threw itself in the path of the plasma, the burning blue fire splashing around it. The smell of the burned creatures began to fill the air as the fire rained down. Kati had even reached down, gripping a sharp piece of metal and hefted it, scanning the mess of fuming creatures, now trying to scrabble up the sides of the structure. “There!” she shouted, and with a twist of her body, her mechanical arms flung the make-shift spear outwards and down, the bulbus body of one of the acid spitting creatures almost popping, acid pouring out of it, hissing on the ground and on creatures nearby, the things dissolving from the ground up.</p><p>“Good shot! Keep an eye on those, don’t let them get close!” Rana shouted encouragement as she took another shot, trying to pace herself, making every shot count. The leader, if you could call it that, had fallen back, getting cover behind the bulk of the larger armored creatures. She aimed another shot at one that was starting to climb up, it’s long arms piercing down and into the metal skin below them. It let out a scream as one of the arms was blown apart by the las pistol, and then the other tearing on the sharp metal it had plunged it’s claw into. It fell backwards, crashing down on the next of metal, kicking feebly before going still.</p><p>“What are we even on in any case Kati? Do we have to worry about it blowing up?” Selora took arm again, fireing on single shots, the mass reactive shells blasting through the weaker forms before imbedding and exploding in the thicker armor of the big ones. “I don’t mind if we blow it up, but I’d like to know!”</p><p>“I would mind! And as far as I can tell it’s a dropship, Devourer class. Part of one at least, this looks like…hold on.” Kati paused in her explaining to draw back taking aim again. The spear flew down letting out a slight whistle as it struck home, a fireball erupting from farther back in the crowd. Rana looked out at the sudden light and felt her heart drop. The brief explosion had shown more of the horde, and it was going back even farther than she could have feared. Kati meanwhile just gave a nod and reached for another shard of metal. “Sorry, they’re bringing out the big guns now. It looks like the front half. Nothing to use for explosives.”</p><p>“Great. Just….great. Selora, is there any word on your vox?” Rana was fireing slower now, looking for any high priority targets, seeing if any are getting close or more ones that could take out mutiples if they died.</p><p>“No, not yet. Have faith Rana, my sisters will come.” Selora let out another gust of flame, the bottom edge of the transport they were on a ribbon of fire. The creatures flung themselves into it with no concern for their own lives, even if their bodies were just adding to the bonfire.</p><p>“I have faith, I would just like them to be here for a rescue, not avenging our deaths!” Rana felt her plasma pistol click, and she ejected the clip, slamming a new one in. “I’m almost dry!” The plasma lit up the surrounding area as she fired again, the tide of creatures getting closer, their dead bodies making a slowly building ramp.</p><p>“Same here, last clip!” Selora fired again, the explosions of her bolter almost marking time. Selora could see the streaks of light as she glanced over, the rocket propelled bolts slamming down into the mess of creatures, but for every one that fell it seemed that another took it’s place.</p><p>“They will breach the side of the hull in approximately three minutes if grown maintains its current levels.” Kati said, her voice calm as she flung another spear, the hissing of acid audible as it found it’s mark.</p><p>“Thank you Kati. Just…maintain. Do what you can until you cannot.” Rana fired another shot from her laspistol, the red light suddenly stopping as the rifle clicked. Swearing under her breath, she holstered it, holding her plasma pistol with both hands, carefully aiming. “Just keep focusing! We need to hold out!” A yell behind her made her flinch, as she spun around, the blue bolt of plasma firing almost without thought as the huge figure of the tyrranid breached over the far side of the ship, blasting it backwards in a smoking pile, but another was already on the top of the ship, letting out a screech as it moved towards them.</p><p>The roar of the chainsword was loud in her ears as Selora drew it, dropping her gun to the surface of the ship with a clang, dashing forward to close the distance, the blade screaming as it bit into the hard carapise. Rana reached for the dropped weapon and raised it, beginning to take aim at the other ones crawling up the far side. “Kati! Take this!” Rana tossed the plasma pistol over to her as she struggled to lift the massive gun with both hands, aiming from the hip. The first shot nearly knocked her over, the massive kick shoving the gun against her hip. Rana bent forward as blue plasma shot forward as Kati fired, the single shots from the bolter hitting the creatures that were distracted by the plasma splash.</p><p>Selora let out another scream of rage as she plunged the chainsword into the chest of the creature, ichor spraying out in a fountain. She kicked it back, pulling the weapon free as she turned toward the next creature. Rana fired the flamer, the top of the ship lighting up in the orange light, a group of creatures falling backwards off the edge of the ship where they landed with an audable crunching sound. She moved her aim, fireing shot after shot, the creatures exploding with the force of the shells, but they kept on pushing forward. The gun gave a click as the last shell was fired, forcing her to switch to short blasts with the flamer, moving forward, trying to guard from the creatures climbing up both sides. Selora ripped her chainsword free with another scream, and backed up, backing against Rana. “No signal yet. Nothing but static. Guess we’re gonna miss that date.”</p><p>“Now now, we ain’t dead yet. And besides, a date with you is what I call motivation.” Rana blew out another gust of flame as Kati backed up as well, the three of them forming a knot of firepower on the top of the ship. “Odds are not looking good though.”</p><p>“Well, we will stand before the Emperor’s light soon enough then.” Selora reved her chainsword, holding it in front of her, eyeing the creatures slowly climbing up, hissing.</p><p>A voice came up from below, echoing laughter. “And now the end for you, you could have lived, run back and lived, but you chose death! So like your Imperium. You could have life, and you cling to death, just like that corpse you worship! You will die down here and you will feed the horde, and all will come falling down around you! This whole hive is ours for the taking, and soon the sector will roll over and offer us it’s sweet flesh into the pits! There is nothing left for you, no light left!” Another bout of insane laughter came up from the darkness below. “Now die!”</p><p>The creatures jumped forward as if they had been stung, dashing forward. A blast of flame caught one in the chest, pushing it back as it fell to the ground, rolling off the edge as another clambered up. Another was neatly bisected by Selora with a lucky shot across the torso, clipping through the soft flexible portion of it’s armor. The blue flashes behind them said that Kati was still taking shots, but the smell of the overheating metal was becoming detectable. The darkness was rapidly approaching, the hissing and cry of the creatures starting to overcome the edges of the ship, a tide that was coming in.</p><p>Overhead, something suddenly flew above, a loud screech that made the creatures pause. It slammed into the roof and stuck there for a moment, before the jet stopped, dieing with a brief puff. There was a moment’s pause when suddenly the roof exploded in light. A blazingly bright blue light seemed to fill the cavern, a phosphorus bright light, shining down, lighting up the huge man-made cavern. Selora let out a cry of joy, holding up the chainsword and revving it.</p><p>“We bring the light to the darkness!” she cried out and brought her sword down, the teeth screaming as it bit into the Xeno coming up at her. Above her head, there were streaks in the artificial sky, blazing forms the dashed above, arcing around and down as Seraphim, the Sisters of Battle’s flight packs burning with light as they descended, their hand flamers ringing around them landing in halos of flame as they attacked.</p><p>The cries of battle echoed from the distance as gunfire began to light up the cavern, the forces of the Blue Rose charging into battle. At the lead, a massive figure, clad in green armor charged. In one hand was a glowing arcing sword, the other the heavy bolter he had before, held in one hand as it fired it, charging forward into the maelstrom of teeth and claws. The tide of creatures hesistated, the targets on top of the ship momentarily forgotten. They clambered down from the sides, moving to meet the oncoming force.</p><p>One of the Seraphim looked up at the three on top of the transport and jumped, making the leap from the ground as easy as climbing a step, her jets boosting her up in the air and down ont the skin of the ship. “Sister Selora. We are pleased to find you alive. Are any of your party injured?”</p><p>Selora shook her head. “No Sister, we are all more or less intact. No ammo however.”</p><p>“Not surprised, judgeing by the pile of dead below. Come on, we need to meet up with the Cannoness. Our job was to get you to safety and make your report, you can rearm there.”</p><p>Selora nodded, sheathing her chainsword and taking the gun from Rana. “Looking forward to it. Lets move.” Descending the ship took just a moment, the pile of dead making almost a slide from the top of the ship to the bottom, the floor almost a inch thick in slime and ichor. The main forces of the battle were being pushed back towards one of the still glowing tunnels, the firepower of the Sisters moving them away from the ship. The trio of Seraphim moved quickly, the blue fire above still lighting up the room as they ran past the corpses of the Tryanids. The battle lines were very fluid, the forces of the Sisters pushing the tyranids backwards, but the cannoness was fairly easy to find. She was conversing with a group of armored Sisters and two tech-priests as they argued over a shaky hololith.</p><p>“And I’m telling you Magos, we have an infestation here. We have one of the Emperor’s chosen leading the way, and we are not going to stop just because this place might have some toys for you!” Kato’s helmet was off and clipped to her belt as she glared sat the Tech-priest, who was staring back, one side of their whole face having been replaced with machinery.</p><p>“And I’m telling you, this is a unforeseen bounty of the Omnissiah. We must not destroy it.”</p><p>Rana approached, her clothing still dripping slightly from the gunk she had just slid down. “And I’m telling you. On behalf of the Holy Inquisition, this whole place is corrupted. We may, MAY! Be able to save some bits, but the longer you argue, the less we’ll be able to save. So be quiet, and listen.” Rana turned to Kato and nodded. “Cannoness. Your timing is impeccable.”</p><p>“Inquisitor. We have work to do, and a number of things to explain, later. Arm up, we’re following the second wave in to mop up. What in the name of the Throne World happened here?”</p><p>“We blew up a not-empty fuel depot.”</p><p>Kato blinked and paused for a moment. “Ah. That would do it. Lets get moving. Reload.” She turned from the three of them and clipped her helmet back on as they quickly grabbed ammo from the supply crates the servitors had brought down with them, Kati also picking up another weapon.</p><p>“If you don’t mind. I’m a bit tired of throwing spears.” Kati said, picking up a large flamer in her tendrils. “And I’m in the mood to burn something.”</p><p>Selora nodded as she reloaded her gun and clipped in a new fuel tank. “Not at all. Now lets move. I want to rip that creature’s head off myself.”</p><p>“I will race you.” Kati said and moved to join the force advancing behind the first wave. The first wave was circling the retreating Tyranids as they fell back into the still burning tunnel they had exited from. The fire was starting to die out, even promethium will only burn for so long, and the metal here wasn’t doing a good job of igniting. Selora and Rana moved forward in the group, the first wave holding back, letting the fresh fighters in, any wounded falling back. They advanced down the scorched and still burning tunnels, filled with the smell of charred flesh. The directions shouted by Rana lead them quickly to the main room, where they had first set off the fire. The room was almost indescribeable. The whole place looked like a kiln, black soot all around the walls, half melted pools of metal scaffolding, bone and ash scattered over the ground. The path they had taken was clear, the tracks visible through the ash as they followed, toward the scorched and half melted blast doors on the opposite side.</p><p>“Looks like those didn’t stand up either Kati.” Rana said, looking over at her.</p><p>“I shall inform the Magos we need to reinforce the blast doors. Now lets kick them down.”</p><p>“I have to agree.” A deep rumble came from behind them as the giant in armor approached. Kryiss was clad in his full armor, the black metal glinting in the firelight, red accents on his shoulder pauldrons. Before, while he was impressive, he still looked like a man. A big man, sure, but just a man. Now, clad in the armor of the Astartes, he looked like so much more. The Emperor’s chosen. Each carrying a bit of that holy light in their very genes.</p><p>“Kryiss. Good to see you. Black looks good on you.” Rana said, looking up at him. “Now would you kindly kick these doors down?”</p><p>“With pleasure.” Kryiss approached the doors and with a movement that made the air whistle, he spun, kicking out with a massive crash. The doors cracked, metal of their construction not being a match for the force of him. They fell forward, ash billowing up as they hit the ground. “And now, we destroy this threat to the Imperium.” He drew out his power sword, the edges arcing with energy and walked into the room, Rana, Selora and Kati following, the other Sisters of Battle following behind them.</p><p>The rooms were oddly clean, considering where they had been and what had lived there. The lights were still glowing, with artwork on the walls. Pictures of a creature with four arms coming down from the skies, a spined worm that was circling and other more blasphemous pictures, most showing some twisted view of the Imperium, the Emperor broken and dead, Terra stripped to the bedrock by the tryanids and other things on that vein.</p><p>“Focus.” Rana said, as she heard the muttering behind her. “We burn it on the way out, but keep your mind on the mission.” Following behind Kryiss was like walking behind a tank, his footsteps making the ground quake slightly as they moved through the halls. The tracks led to another door, this one fully sealed. Stepping up to it, Kryiss ran a finger over it and turned.</p><p>“Demo pack please.” As he was handed it, every began to fall back, getting out of the blast radius. Kryiss followed soon after, a remote in his hand. “Fire in the hole.” The bark from the explosives was of a different tone than the various explosisons they had been caught in in the last few hours. It was a sharp kicking bark, almost as if it was worried about wasting power on noise. Moving back around the hallway, the doorway was neatly cored, a round hole in the middle of the locking mechanism almost big enough to crawl through. Darkness was the only thing visible through it, and as they pushed the doors open, it was just black inside as well. Their lights managed to show a storage area full of crates and boxes, all dusty, looking like no one had been in here for years.</p><p>“Careful…ambush spot…” Kryiss carefully moved in the doorway, sword raised in one hand. The crackling sword cast a faint light on the room, but there was no movement to be seen.</p><p>“No other exit points.” Kati said. “No vents, unless they dug through a fair amount of solid rock.”</p><p>“They’re here. I can smell that foul little creature. Fan out, cover all open spots. We can flush him out. Lets burn it.” Rana raised her plasma pistol and took aim into the darkness. She was in the process of pulling the trigger as a shape burst out of the shadows, all teeth and claws, shard-like arms coming down for the kill. The blue flash of the blade was almost too fast to see as Kryiss swung, the two arms of the creature falling to the floor, the smoking ends cleanly severed. Rana almost fell backwards, squeezing the trigger of her pistol as the creature exploded in a gust of blue flame, and the rest of the room exploded.</p><p>Creatures flew out from every angle, twisting off of the walls, charging in. The Sisters all fired almost at once, the room lit up with fire. Rana fired again and again, blasts of plasma blowing holes in ancient crates as she heard a scream from behind her, a lucky strike from one of the creatures having almost impaled a sister. She let out another yell, gripping the talon in her armored hand as she squeezed, cracks forming in the tough chitin. Her gun rose up, and fired, a bolter shell blowing the creature apart as she fell to the ground, unmoving, blood pooling around her. Rana moved back, fireing into the darkness as the darkness attacked, the creatures lunging out of the shadows in a odd stop-motion action, the flashes of gunfire accenting their movements. A face opened far too wide lungeing at her, the blue plasma hitting it, then it falling aside in the strobing light. Rana turned her head, seeing Kryiss standing in front of all of them, a statue of metal and flesh, firing the massive weapon with one hand down the room.</p><p>A huge creature with scything arms as big as she was was charging down the room. Rana could see the pits forming in the armor as it did, every new flash of light forming new pits, but it kept charging down the room, howling in fury. Rana turned, another scream catching her ear and saw another sister on the ground, a claw through an arm, pinned to the floor, trying to reach for her gun. Her plasma gun fired again, hitting it in the side, burning through the arm pinning her to the ground as it fell back. The sister on the ground managed to reach her gun, swinging it around, emptying the clip into the mass of the screaming creature.</p><p>Rana spun back to the charging creature and saw the reason the Adeptus Astartes were feared throughout the galaxy. Kryiss was standing there, having dropped the heavy bolter, and was holding the claw, the claw that could have piereced all the way through Rana and killed her without a thought. He was holding it in his hand, pushing back. It’s other claw had been pierced by the power sword, held at arm’s reach by him. The most amazing thing that Rana could see through was the movement. Kryiss was pushing the creature back. A thing the size of a transport, and he was pushing it back, gripping it’s sliceing claws in one hand. Rand snapped her head back to the darkness and fired again, a box exploding in front of her, revealing the hissing maw, which she rapidly filled with another bolt of plasma.</p><p>“Push them back!” Rana yelled out, the forces of the sisters slamming into the walls of teeth and claws from the darkness. Another scream behind her and Rana saw another sister, desperately fireing into the face of a creature as it slashed forward, blood spraying as she fell to the floor, almost bisected as blood pooled around her.</p><p>Selora let out a scream as she moved towards it, her gun fireing bits of it flying apart as it fell and she stood above her fallen sister, firing shot after shot into it even as it fell still. The roar of the flame was getting louder as the room burned, the heat getting intense. “Find the leader!” Selora screamed out, her flamer shooting out a gout of flame. There was a crunching noise from the front of the group, as Krysis’s grip closed, ichor spilling down his hand as he snapped the claw in his hand clean off. Rleasing the striken creature’s arm, he reached pulled the broken claw off of the strands of flesh, tearing it down with a sick wet snapping noise. Turning it in his hand, he slammed it forward, impaling the Tyranid with it’s own claw as it howled and struggled, falling onto it’s back, thrashing and destroying more of the surrounding area. Kryiss charged forward, as the massive beast fell, his huge armored boots ringing out as he moved down the room, powr sword out, followed by the screaming forces of the Sisters of Battle. Another Tyranid tried to attack from the side, a desperate attempt to flank but it was incenerated by Kati, her flamer catching it as it was trying to sneak, fire enveloping it.</p><p>At the end of the room, there was a baracade set up, metal scrap piled up in a hasty attempt to protect them from fire. There were a number of figures behind it, raining out red lasbolts as the sisters and Kryiss moved to cover, ducking behind the crates, hearing the crack of lasbolts as they flew down the hall. Laughter began to ring out from behind the baracade, the same insane voice that Rana had heard before.</p><p>“Come at me Corpse worshipers! We wait you, it is too late! You will all die! The Stars have answered our cries!” There was the noise of something landing between the crates, a heavy clunk as the oblong shape rolled into view.</p><p>“Grenade!” Selora yelled, grabbing Rana and spinning her around, shoving her behind her as she ducked, the explosion rocking the room. Rana could feel the pressure wave and heard the rapid harsh plinking of the sharpnell off of Selora’s armor. She paused for a second, waiting and then moved out of her grip, looking back at her.</p><p>“Thanks. Owe you two now by my count. Are you ok?”</p><p>Selora nodded, moving against the crate, trying to peek around the side. “Fine. It was low level shrapnel. Can’t piece this armor with that. Now if it was a melta, well, then we have problems.”</p><p>“Wish we had one of those, they’d keep their heads down.” Rana muttered. “Ok, they want to play rough, we can play rough. Flamers! Douse the room! Kyriss! That tank you’re wearing fireproof?”</p><p>Kryiss nodded drawing his sword and crouching by the crate. “Say when.”</p><p>“Right. Now! Burn it all!” Rana yelled out as the sisters moved around their cover, fire filling the back end of the room, the cries and panicked yells of whatever was behind the baracade filled the room. At this, Kryiss charged forward, running into the flame, a massive effigy. The flamers stopped once he entered, revealing the burning baracade, which flew apart as he hit it like a train, tossing one figure clear across the room, where it crashed into a wall and fell to the ground where it lay still. Another was gripped around the neck in a still burning fist, and squeezed, the body going limp as it was tossed aside as well. The last person was raising it’s lasrifle, trying to fire at the massive figure covered in fire, the bolts plinking off it’s armor with no effect. Kryiss reached with one massive hand and backhanded it, slamming it against the wall and against the figure still in it’s chair.</p><p>With a final crash, the end of the room was revealed, a burned wounded creature on it’s chair, cluching the artifact in it’s hand. And it was still laughing. “You don’t understand. You’ve lost. You will lose. I may die, but the star children have been called! I can feel it ringing in my mind, the call is out! They will come, and this world will die!”</p><p>Rana stepped forward, breathing heavily, raising her pistol. “You are nothing. A lost mind held in the rapture of monsters beyond your imagineing. But if they come, it will not matter. We will be waiting. And we will be ready. You will not see it however. In the name of the Emperor, you will die.” The plasma bolt exited the pistol, striking the creature in the chest as it laughed, falling to the ground, the insane smile still on it’s face as it fell, the artifact falling to the floor like a forgotten toy.</p><p>Rana let out a breath and lowered the pistol. “Kati. Get that artifact, and for Emperor’s sake, don’t touch it with your hands. We need to get out of here and back up to the surface. We are about to have a whole lot of meetings with a lot of people who are going to be very very confused and angry.”</p><p>Kryiss gave a grunt. “I do hate meetings. Always did.”</p><p>“Yah, well join the club. I also need a drink.” Rana turned from the body and walked out of the burning room, the rest of the pieces of cargo and storage starting to catch.</p><p>They walked out of the room, and back to the hall, as Rana glanced at the horrible pieces of artwork, one of the sisters already raising her flamer and blasting the walls, the paint burning in the holy fire as they walked out. The cannoness was waiting, having set up a perimeter around the entrance.</p><p>“Canoness. There are wounded in there, get your medics in there. Two may be able to be saved, one…I’m sorry.” Rana shook her head.</p><p>“She died in glory, defending the light of the God-Emperor. She sits at his side now.” Kato said as two medics rushed past her, into the room, followed by support staff. “Have we succeeded?”</p><p>Rana nodded. “Artifact found. Leader dead, cult disrupted. A whole lot of it all destroyed as well. And we found a bunch of old tech that the Cogboys are going to be very happy about having re-discovered. Isn’t that right Kati?”</p><p>“Very happy indeed.” Kati said with a nod.</p><p>“Good to hear. Now I think we need to more thorough explanation as to what happened down here. It looks like a damn war zone, and that was before we started fighting. How did you three do this much damage this fast?”</p><p>Rana sighed. “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. In our defense we were desperate. The leader here, found an artifact, and it was used to call the Tyranids. We were going to wait, but we came up on him talking about how he was going to force the…what did you call that Selora?”</p><p>“We just call it the call.”</p><p>“Come on, you need a better name than that. We’ll think on it. Anyway, he said the artifact was able to call them faster. And from the lab we found, I think he was right to some extent. We can show you the holo later, You did download that despite us asking you not to right Kati?”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“Good, it shows a captured tyrranid being lead around by this thing. Don’t know how, but we have to assume that the Tyranids are on their way.”</p><p>“That…is very bad news. But how did you destroy all of this again?”</p><p>“Oh, that. Sorry, it’s been a long day. We heard him talking and decided we needed to take him out before he activated it. So we went to a old fuel depot, opened the valves and set it all on fire.”</p><p>“I see…”</p><p>“Again, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”</p><p>“I’m sure it did. I think the time has come to wake up the Governor however.”</p><p>“Great. I’m sure he’ll love that. I don’t suppose we can get some sleep first, as impressive as it would be to show up coated in blood, slime and ash?”</p><p>“I think that can be arranged. I don’t think the owner of that transport stayed around.”</p><p>“You hijacked a transport?” Rana turned to Kryiss. “Nice work.”</p><p>“I convinced him that it was in the best interest of the Imperium if he few me to the Convent.”</p><p>“How did you do that?”</p><p>“I told him if he didn’t I’d rip out his spine. I was bluffing, of course, but I can be quite intimidating when I wish to be.”</p><p>“I can see that. Remind me to play cards with you sometime. Now come on, lets get out of here, I need sleep and a shower. A few showers. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel clean again.”</p><p> </p><p>The next day, Rana was starting to wonder if it would’ve been better if she had been just killed. The planetary governor was in front of her, the head of the Adeptus Arbites to their left, and the Commander of the Planetary defence force on the other side. The meeting was taking place in the Chapel of the Blue Rose, which under a normal circumstance would be quite lovely. The meeting chamber was decorated with the beautiful blue lichen, glowing softly around the room, with stunning glassworks in the windows. This was not a normal circumstance however.</p><p>“I just have a hard time believe this. A cult, right under our feet? And they had some….artifact from who knows when?” The governor was middle aged, middle height, and middle sized, everything about him screamed “middle”. Rana let out a sigh and  ran a hand over her eyes. On her side of the table was Selora, Kati and Cannoness Kato. Standing behind them, a very obvious threat, was Kryiss, still clad in his full armor, arms crossed across his chest, not saying anything, just…being.</p><p>“This may surprise you governor, but I don’t really care. I am not here to convince you. I am here to talk to you and inform you of the situation. This artifact we have is some sort of…beacon. It has been shown to be able to direct Tyranids, and we have to assume that the creature we killed below the streets of your city was able to fully activate it. That means we are under attack. They just haven’t arrived yet.” Rana sat back in her chair, really wishing that shooting him was an option. It was, she thought to herself, but Emperor, there would be enough paperwork to kill a man. And not by overwork, by dropping it on him.</p><p>“I just don’t know how this could have happened! We have seen no signs, have we?” The governor turned to the head of the Adeptus Arbites, neatly passing the buck.</p><p>“No, but the point of one of these…infestations, as far as I’ve been able to see is that you don’t know about it until it’s too late.” The Adeptus Arbites head was a older woman who went by Sidney, her grey hair in a tight bun and looking as if she hadn’t slept in a few days. “Besides, you know how the underhive is. It’s controlled by the gangs, we would an exponential increase in our forces if we wanted to try to drive them out, with no gain. There’s nothing useful down there, it’s all ruins.”</p><p>“Well, that is a bit of good news actually.” Kati said, looking up from her data slate. “The Mechacinum has decreed that some portions of the underhive hold tech that would be useful to us. So we are in the process of shipping a number of forces over from a nearby forge world to investigate.”</p><p>“Ah. That is a bit of good news I suppose.” Sidney looked a bit uncomfortable, the idea of having a swarm of tech obsessed people digging around in the underhive, making a mess of things and throwing the delicate balance between the underhive and above totally out of whack not exactly what she would call good news. “They can also make sure none of your efforts in the past day have weakened the supporting structure.”</p><p>“That is another thing!” The Governor said, turning attention back on himself. “According to reports you blew up a fuel depot?”</p><p>Selora gave a nod. “That’s what’s in the report.”</p><p>“Putting at risk the entire hive? Possibly cracking a main support and causing the whole thing to collapse, killing billions of people?” The Governor looked aghast, but unless Rana missed her guess, he was more worried that he would have died along with everyone.</p><p>Selora leaned over the table slightly, her armor back to the clean and gleaming colors it had when she first put it on yesterday. “Yes. Governor, have you ever fought the Tryanids?”</p><p>He gave an affronted look, glancing around the room. “Of course not. What kind of question is that?”</p><p>“Then you have no idea what they do. See, Orks? They want to blow things up. They love the noise. They go and fight and fight cause they like it. The T’au? They want to help you, join their ‘Greater Good’, whatever that is. Do you know what the Tyranids want?”</p><p>The Governor shook his head. “I mean, I’ve read some of the reports…” but was cut off by Selora slamming her fist down on the table.</p><p>“I don’t think you have. You’re not nearly worried enough. The Tyranids are hungry. That’s is all. Total motivation right there, full stop. They are hungry. You can’t argue with them, or convince them. They want to eat, and everything is towards that goal. They want to take any available biomass and use it to build more of them. Then they go to the next planet. How many populated worlds are in this sector?”</p><p>“I think…” he started to say as Rana cut him off.</p><p>“Three. Two Agri worlds, one with more generic use. Total population, around 10 billion give or take.”</p><p>“All of them dead. And their dead bodies used to power the machine of the Tyranids. But that’s not counting all the other organic matter. Every scrap of plant life, ever drop of water, gone. Sucked in to power them. And you are sitting here trying to pretend this isn’t happening. Now one of two things is going to happen. You are going to agree with the Inquisitor’s requests, or you are going to whine more. One of these has a future career. The other does not have a future. Decide now, because if I have to sit here one more minute and listen to you whine I swear to the throne I will shoot you myself.” Selora glared at the blanching Governor from across the table.</p><p>“Alright, alright…just…what do we do to stop this?”</p><p>Rana gave Selora a slight grin as she sat back in her chair. “It’s being done now. Astropath messages are being sent out as we speak. We have forces inbound, how long they’ll take to get here is another story.”</p><p>“How long do we have before the…things arrive?”</p><p>“Unknown. I mean, the thing could have not even worked, but the risk is too great to ignore. We know it’s not soon, as we’ve not received any alerts from other stations, but that’s no guarantee. That may just mean no one reported it cause they’re all dead. We are looking for shadows in the warp, but so far, no sign. If that gets here though, we’re all in much worse trouble.”</p><p>“And…Will we be expecting Astartes support in this?” The Governor looked up at Kryiss with a hopefull look.</p><p>“Also unknown. We have sent out messages, but response time is always slow. There is a lot going on in the galaxy.”</p><p>Sidney leaned forward, giving a cough. “One question. What do you want us to do? It seems like you’re telling us a force of nature is heading to us, I have to say, I’m not sure what we can do to stop this.”</p><p>“We can’t really do anything. We need to make sure that any other cults are stamped out, we can’t have backstabbing going on here while we’re under attack. You need to do a sweep of damn near everything. PDF, the Arbites, any station masters, whatever you can think of. I hope that we got to the cult before it got too big and integrated, but well…I don’t like to assume the best. Tends to be proven wrong a lot.”</p><p>Sidney nodded grimly, seemly lost in thought, working out logistics. “Right…We’ll get on it right away. What do we tell the people?”</p><p>Rana shook her head. “Nothing at this time. Not until we know something more, if we know for sure, then we can work. But if we tell them now, panic starts.”</p><p>“I’ll have to tell the investigators something, so they know what they’re looking for.”</p><p>“You need to handpick a team, we’ll let them know what’s going on, and what to look for. We need to keep this quiet, I do not want to have to deal with a riot in a hive. Those never end well.”</p><p>“I have to agree Inquisitor. My first station was on a different planet. Another hive world, one where the Governor…”She trailed off, glancing at the person sitting next to her before continuing. “Wasn’t paying attention. And made things worse. We damn near lost the whole hive, fires and explosives were destroying almost everything. One of the groups tried to breach the thermal tap.”</p><p>Kati looked up at that, eyes clicking. “They tried to breach the tap? That…Is remarkably bad. That would cause an eruption potentially.”</p><p>“I am well aware, I was in charge of the team that took them down. Why I got promoted out here.”</p><p>“Well…Congratulations I suppose?”</p><p>“Thank you. Now is there anything else we can do Inquisitor? I don’t like the thought that we’re just waiting here for those creatures to come to us.”</p><p>Rana shook her head. “There’s nothing really for us to do. Evac isn’t possible, and we have called in for reinforcements. We do have the artifact, so that may light a fire under some people, but well…it’s a bit up in the air. We will let you know the instant we have any word from any of the people we’re asking about reinforcements. For now…Just try to keep people calm. Can you do that?”</p><p>Sidney nodded and stood up. “If that’s all then? I need to get a force together. Who is organizing defense of the system?”</p><p>“For now, Cannoness Kato is. She has the most experience fighting these things and her chapel here is well defended and secure. None of the sisters are going to leak anything after all. All reports go to her.”</p><p>Sidney nodded. “Then with your leave.” She headed out the door, the other two following behind her. As the door closed Rana let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling.</p><p>“I must compliment you on your design ascetic again Cannoness. This is really quite beautiful.”</p><p>“Thank you Inquisitior. And may I say also that I will have my revenge for saddling me with all this paperwork.”</p><p>Rana laughed and sat upright grinning at Kato. “Would you prefer to have the governor handle it? He’d deny it was going on until it was too late.”</p><p>“No, I know the reason and I agree. I still will have revenge.” Kato turned to Selora and nodded. “Selora, I will be requiring your assistance. It will be some long hours, and cut into your free time, but it needs to be done.”</p><p>“Oh…Of course Cannoness.” Selora said, looking a bit confused.</p><p>“Now that is just playing dirty. Ok, if I get you some Adminstratium drones to help with the paperwork, will that be alright?” Rana said, shaking her head with a smile.</p><p>“That would be lovely, you are too kind Inquisitor. Selora, never mind. Thank you for your dedication to service.”</p><p>“I…I am pleased to serve Cannoness.” Selora was looking from Rana to Kato in a bit of confusion. “What is going on though?”</p><p>“Nothing to worry about.”</p><p>Kryiss gave a deep laugh as he pulled off his helmet and set it on the table. “The question remains what I should do however. I am worried that I have put a lot of you in danger.”</p><p>Rana nodded, looking up at him again. “I know, I’ve done a bit of digging with that when we got back and I hit a wall. There’s just not a lot of information on what could have happened at Caliban, but there is a lot of talk among the Ordo Heritic. Mostly just rumor, but a lot of the tone is that the Dark Angels are hiding something. Nothing…bad we think, but something all the same. Rumors. Ships disappearing, but all hearsay. The fact is whatever happened, you have proven your loyalty to the Imperium beyond all reproach I can say. And if any of the Astartes chapters has a problem with it, they have a problem with the Inquisition and the Sisters of Battle. So they can just be quiet.”</p><p>Kryiss nodded a smile on his face. “Thank you, that means a great deal. Becides, I think we will need every weapon we have in the coming weeks. There is much I need to learn very quickly about the state of things now. I thank you for your assistance in this Cannoness Kato.”</p><p>“A pleasure Kryiss. Now, I believe we’re done here? We’ve got a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.”</p><p>Rana nodded and nudged Selora. “Come on you, lets get back to my office, seems like I’ve not been back there in a month…I’ll get you some of those noodles. Kati, keep me posted, ok? I’ll see you later, like it or not, you’re front lines on this thing.”</p><p>“Of course Inquisitor. You have fun now.” Kati gave her a wave as Rana walked out, with Selora in tow.</p><p>When they had their seats on the transport, Selora turned to Rana, giving her a bit of a glare. “So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?”</p><p>“What what was about?”</p><p>“That whole song and dance with the Cannoness, you know full well what.”</p><p>“Ah, well. If you’re working with her, that’ll cut in on your free time, you’d be super busy.”</p><p>“Yes, we’re about to be attacked by a huge group of Tyranids, in case you forgot, we’re going to be busy.”</p><p>“Yes, and if you were working with her, you’d be to busy to help me.”</p><p>“Yes and…oh.” Selora gave a laugh, and Rana was shocked to see, a bit of a blush coming up on her face. “I suppose that’s true. We did survive in the underhive, and I do owe you a date. If I knew that, I’d of worn something a bit nicer.”</p><p>“I dunno, I think you look great in that. Very imposing and impressive. What can I say, I like a girl in armor.”</p><p>Selora laughed and smiled at her. “Well, thank you. I just hope that this relationship won’t end in a few months as a result of an attack.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure we’d figure something out.”</p><p>“I’m sure you would. Don’t mess with the Inquisiton is what they say isn’t it?”</p><p>“It is indeed. Now, get some rest for a while, it’s gonna be a while before we get back in my sector. I really need to requisiton some kind of flyer, I can’t be waiting for two hours to meet up at your chapel.”</p><p>“I don’t know, it’s kinda relaxing. Just sitting here having to wait.” Selora’s hand slowly moved over, taking Rana’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Suppose it depends on the company as well.”</p><p>“True enough. By the way, did I ever thank you properly for saving my life?”</p><p>“No, you did not. But a date will be a good start, don’t you think? So what are we doing for our brief moment of R&amp;R before things get intense again?”</p><p>“Well, we could get some noodles, play some cards. Try to beat you on that front.”</p><p>“Your funeral Inquisitor.” Selora grinned and leaned over, giving her a kiss.</p><p> </p><p>Appendix</p><p>Sisters Of Battle – Also known as the Adepta Soritias, these holy warriors clad in powered armor are some of the strongest fighters in the Imperium, their power in battle only matched by their religlous fervor.</p><p>Adaptes Astartes – The Space Marines, Biologically enhanced super solders, the chosen warriors of the Emperor of Man. Incredibly powerful in combat, these warriors are the forces that is sent in when no one else can do the job</p><p>Imperium – The Imperium of Man is the Galaxy-spanning empire of Mankind, lead by the God-Emperor. It is violent, fundamentalist, and dark.</p><p>God-Emperor of Mankind – The leader of the Imperium, for the past 10,000 years he has sat on his Golden Throne, in a deathless state, slowly decaying as his glorious Imperium rots around him. He may as well be dead, but is currently suspended an inch from death by the mysterious works of the Golden Throne</p><p>Adapteus Mechaninucm – The Mechanius is a group of Techo-priests based on Mars that is responsible for all the technology produced by the imperium. They are perhaps even more fundamentalist than the Imperium, allowing no creation or experimentation, only repetition of known devices.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>